Element Halo
by Iron Warriors
Summary: When we started to expand past the Orin Arm of the Milkyway, we didn't know what to expect. Once we were out there though, things changed big time. For those brief 30 years we were the top dogs of the galaxy in all powers but like always when humanity reaches a higher seat of power, something always comes to make us fall... This time however the fall will cost our entire race.
1. Chapter 1: AUR Codex 2553-2560

**To those of you that complained about the timeline of this story. Here is the explanation. Yes, this will be an OOC Halo Universe.**

 **Addendum: I have made some changes here for those that have been following the story in hopes of making the first chapter a little more presentable.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **2553:**

-The Great War ends with a peace treaty between Humanity and the Sangheili Separatists, a peace treaty which many on both sides didn't want but knew that they'd end up all dead if they tried.

-The U.E.G. turns it's Governing policy into that of a Military Republic. Where to become a citizen I.E. holding public planetary/galactic office or vote you must spend time in Federal Service for a minimum term of 4 years, 2 years of this time is spent in basic and advanced training courses with most people returning to semi-civilian lives as U.N.S.C. reserve units. Those that do not participate pay slightly higher in taxes then those that serve (like Switzerland or the movie/book Starship Troopers but less giant killer bugs. If anyone that's old enough to remember that movie is reading this good for you.)

-Insurrectionist activity is at an all-time low due to what many people believe is changes put in place by the U.E.G. when it comes to negotiation tactics with planetary systems. Although there is still the minor skirmish every now and then, the death toll is nowhere near as bloody as prior to the Great War.

-The U.E.G. allow it's planets to either stay as part of the government or are allowed to split off. The space containing those that chose to stay out of U.N.S.C. governance was dubbed Frontier Space.

-Several bills are passed to increase military spending for ships and equipment as well as put new resources into rebooting the portal to the Ark in a desperate gambit to find The Master Chief.

 **2554:**

-ONI sends recovery units, repair teams, Battle Group X-ray of the Sol Fleet and scientific coloinization boats to the Ark through Slipstream Space estimated time of arrival June of 2555.

-The Sangheili start their slaughter of the Brute fleets across their portion of the galaxy with U.N.S.C. acting as economic support.

-The U.N.S.C. fleet strength doubles in size from their weakened state of 400 warships to 800 warships by the end of the year. (can't find direct numbers of total Fleet strength the U.N.S.C. had after the war on any wiki page but I've put to guess that with 800 worlds to govern they would need a lot of spacecraft especially when in the middle of civil war.)

-Recolonization efforts begin for the U.E.G. fastly reclaiming lost worlds with the help of the Sangheili and recovered Forerunner tech. Most planets are able to re-colonize due to only major population centers being glassed, sadly most of these worlds are outer colony planets, allowing them to become major engineering powerhouses compared to their inner colony cuisines but they still required trade agreements between the two sectors to refine the resources.

-The U.N.S.C. _Infinity_ finishes construction (can't find a date of which it completed construction so bug off.)

 **2555:**

-All Brutes that still followed the Covenant are confined to their homeworlds, losing most if not all technological advancement and resorting back to the stone age after multiple orbital bombardments by ONI kill teams and rival Brute Warlords.

-The Sangheili Civil War begins between the Covenant loyalists and the Arbiter loyalists with newly rebuilt U.N.S.C. Military support.

-The Portal to the Ark is repaired, the reason why is the portal on the other side was damaged when Installation 04.2 was fired.

-Research stations are put in place across the Ark along with a colony, and multiple U.N.S.C. military bases turning the Ark into a major U.N.S.C. Military research and development center within the year. Sadly Spartan 117 and the other half of the _Unto Dawn_ are unable to be found.

-The _Infinity's_ sister ship starts construction.

-The _Infinity_ and her crew start their search for Forerunner artifacts setting up research bases on any Halo's they come across, and eradicating any and all flood life signs.

 **2556:**

-The Sangheili Civil War ends with the Arbiter's people taking the victory, and the forging of the Sangheili Republic (S.R.)

-The U.E.G. spends resources to help the S.R. recover from the war and become a civilisation that is self sufficient.

-The U.N.S.C. war machine pumps out another 300 warships totaling out the U.N.S.C. fleet power to 1,100 ships. Bills are passed on use of the Ark's mega shipyard to build ships.

-The Unggoy (grunts) start up the Parliament of Unified Systems (P.U.S.) basing their Government after the Earth Government of the United States with their first President being Yap Yap.

-The U.E.G. and S.R. officially open civilian borders with each other in a sign of good faith between Galactic nations.

 **2557:**

-Reach is returned to its former glory and is built back up as a fortress world along with ten other worlds in the core systems around Earth, leaving the Outer Colonies more power in the civilian market as the Inner Colonies more power in military armament.

-The Events of Halo 4, and Spartan Ops. take place.

-After the scare of the Didacts power and the numerous appearances of Covenant Splinter Groups the U.E.G., P.U.S., S.R., The Free Holds (F.H.), Veiled Dominion (V.D.), Frontier League (F.L.), and Independent Yohet States (I.Y.S.) ratify unanimously to forge the A.U.R. and make it the galactic defenders against the multiple Covenant splinter groups, and the Confederacy of Former Covenant States (C.F.C.S.) with each race having a representative in the Government.

-All members of the A.U.R combine all military power/resources into one massive military under the banner of U.N.S.C. equaling out to 4,005 warships in combined strength.

-The _Zeus_ class Star-Dreadnought starts research, and development using the wreckage of the Didact's ship as a template and pieces, pulling all resources from all races marking it as the first combined project of the A.U.R.

 **2558:**

 **-** The Last Prophets splinter cell attempts to launch a Crusade into U.E.G territory to gain the Janus Key but is stopped by the U.N.S.C. when a Spartan team and a full combat fleet of 200 is deployed and forces the group back after killing the Prophet commanding the vanguard, the battle resaulting in the death of 2,000 people.

-The Janus Key is complete in U.E.G. control allowing Humanity access to more Forerunner installations, oddly most of these installations no longer exist almost as if they were taken or destroyed. this, in turn, makes the Janus Key less than useless to the A.U.R.

-The _Infinity's_ sister ship completes construction.

-The mystery behind the creation of the Spartan II's is leaked to the Galactic public causing 90% of the O.N.I. leadership to be arrested and all its powers in or over any government body to be null and void causing many to desert their posts but are eventually brought back under heavy probation or imprisonment. The surviving families and childhood friends of the Spartan II's begin protests to get their family back or to at least see them.

-The _Zeus_ class Star-Dreadnought under the code name "Death Star" starts construction over the Ark. It was called this after an Unggoy worker made a joke while being questioned by a reporter.

-The Galactic Hero John-117 and all combat active Spartan II's are declared MIA and not long after their families give up their protests.

-The Banished launch a daring strike on the AUR controlled Ark, releasing the parasite contained there, causing the deaths of 2,000,000 civilian and military personnel.

-The U.N.S.C. _Spirit of Fire_ arrives at the Ark helping push the Banished off the Ark but due to the damage on the ship, and the lack of a Slipspace drive core is decommissioned for parts which are introduced to the Star-Dreadnought's frame and it's coil gun batteries are turned into broadside weapon systems for one side of the ship. All crew onboard return home after their long voyage.

-Scientific research and development into the human genome with the use of Forerunner tech bears fruit in eliminating all forms of physical sickness and theoretically improving the life span of humanity by twice as long.

 **2559:**

-The A.U.R. celebrates a time of uneasy peace unheard in over 40 years by most of the population.

-The _Zeus_ class Star-Dreadnought completes construction and is manned by Human, Huragok, Sangheili, Unggoy and Kig Yar members.

-All members of the _Spirit of Fire_ return to active duty with all marine, and O.D.S.T. elements receiving Spartan augmentations or promotions, and are sent to serve on the _Zeus_ class Star-Dreadnought with the newly appointed Admiral Cutter taking command of the ship naming her after his former warship. The _Zeus_ class ended up as a 30 kilometer long starship built for one thing, the destruction of hostile Forerunner constructs/any new hostile alien race, and was currently armed as such with thousands of archer missile pods, hundreds of plasma torpedo batteries, close rang rail-gun turrets, energy projectors, four hundred nova class nuclear bombs, and point defence guns. (Look up U.N.S.C. Punic-class supercarrier and that's what it looks like in build just a few kilometers larger.)

 **2560:**

-(story starts here.)


	2. Chapter 2: First Contact

**[Updated enjoy]**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: South Eastern Border of S.R. controlled space…**

 **Location: U.N.S.C.** _ **Benediction…**_

 **Date: 11 June 2560…**

 **Time: 7:00 military standard time…**

A man that looked no older than 36 walked down a dusty grey corridor wearing a simple but finally pressed suit of U.N.S.C. Navy BDU, with a name tag reading out as "Alexander" sewn into it over the left breast pocket. His well maintained yet worn black boots clanked against the steel grated floor of the bulkhead. Alexander was the navigational officer of Admiral Cutters former ship, the first _Spirit of Fire_ during the Covenant War in the early days but since then he was given command of this ship.

 _Another day in the great A.U.R.,_ Alexander mused looking over reports from the rest of his small patrol group in one hand, while he sipped from a coffee mug in the other hand with the words " _galaxies greatest dad!"_ painted in a crude childlike manner on the side (the patrol group consisted of two Strident heavy frigates, three Charon light frigates, and one Autumn heavy cruiser that acted as the patrol groups acting command vessel).

"Captain on deck!" one of the bridge guards saluted as Alexander walked through. The buttstock of the soldier's MA5B hitting the ground with a strong metallic clang.

"At ease," the Captain said returning the salute to the guard before returning his attention to his task at hand.

"Give me a sitrep," Alexander ordered taking his normal seat in the middle of the bridge control staff with a stoic expression on his face while he drank his coffee. His patrol group was only sent to this tail end of space because the planetary leadership out here spotted an unknown spacefaring species in the sector.

" _We've reached system, yet I cannot hail anyone on local coms,"_ Rax the ships A.I. stated, _"there also appears to be at least 40 unidentified ships of cruiser class and below on the opposite side of this system in orbit over the Sangheili colony as well as a large number debris above the planet."_ (this world is only a small farming colony of about two thousand or so souls, and yes I have checked the ship sizes of the two universes and from what I can see dreadnoughts in mass effect only reaches about the size of a U.N.S.C. cruiser with the only exception being the Destiny Ascension which is half the size of the Infinity.)

"Are they insurrectionists, we all know they've gotten sly about their actions lately?" Alexander asked sighing.

" _Negative, no U.G.R. ships emit an energy reading like this..."_ Rax goes silent for half a second, _"Captain, I've picked up a video feed, you need to see this."_

"Put it on the view screen," Alexander ordered, "and set us a course to orbit the closest moon to our current position but keep us on the dark side out of sight of our new friends."

The viewport turned black as the video started. It showed images of roughly humanoid figures in strange armors that covered them from head to toe obscuring their features past their body shape and they seemed to have personal shield systems yet couldn't halt plasma aliens were clearly invading the planet but it was hard to see anything coherent with the camera shaking, and switching between different viewpoints, for instance helmet cams on police officers and local P.D.F. trying to fight back and help civilians to street cameras watching intersections where heavy fighting took place. The entire crew was silent as they watched realizing what was happening while they saw the new race start dragging civilians off, killing those who fought back or were too wounded to be of use.

These creatures were mostly made up of humanoid looking creatures but one in every twenty were hulking brute like monsters that when wounded enough would go berserk against the soldiers that had caused enough bullet and plasma burns to do so (which was a lot). They also wielded interesting weapons which seemed to fire kinetic projectiles yet had no ammo magazines to speak of.

"What do we do now?" the weapons officer asked being the first one to shake from his stupor.

"Get me a secure line to the _Dauntless_ , and get our weapons primed," Alexander ordered his facial features grim, _It's Harvest all over again._

"Yes, sir, I'm on it," the communications officer nodded.

"This is the Captain of the _Dauntless_ , what is it, sir?" the Captain asked voice tone making it obvious he had seen the same video Alexander did.

"I need you to get to HIGHCOM now with this new information, follow Cole Protocol, and get the hell out of here," Alexander ordered sternly, "tell them we've got a new fight on our hands."

"And the rest of you, sir?" the Captain asked his tone turning to one of hopelessness.

"We'll try to keep them in the system as long as we can," Alexander sighed, tightening his fists.

"Copy that, sir, good hunting," the Captain of the _Dauntless_ cut communication as it jumped through a slipspace portal.

"How're our weapons coming along?" Alexander asked.

" Our MAC's are sitting at 100% power we just need firing solutions," the weapons officer said.

"Good, aim to cripple them I don't civilian casualties if we can help it," Alexander said looking to his navigations officer "I want an emergency jump cycle to put us right on top of them." The officer nodded.

The _Benediction_ , as well as the other four remaining patrol ships, jumped through slipspace, coming through just 10,000km away from the enemy force. After a couple of seconds, seven multiton MAC rounds shot at the threat aiming for the engines of several ships, smashing through them like knives through butter. This sends the three cruiser class ships spinning slowly out of control plus disabling them from fighting back with the rest of their fleet, while the other four rounds just obliterate the engines of four other frigate sized ships leaving 33 of the enemy ships left to fight back.

"Rax get orders out to all saber teams to get to the launch bays, and get us some fighter screening," Alexander ordered over the ship's loudspeaker.

" _Understood, Captain,"_ Rax calmly said.

"Captain they're turning to face us," the navigations officer called out.

"Engage evasive maneuvers!" Alexander yelled as the hostiles sent multiple volleys of mass accelerator rounds at sublight speeds every few seconds. The U.N.S.C. ships were able to outmaneuver the first volley of rounds with the rest of them harmlessly bouncing off their Covenant based shield systems.

"Report," Alexander coughed out sitting up in his chair.

" _Our shields are holding at 41.7% power,"_ Rax said statically, _"I had to divert power from weapons to keep the shields strong."_

"And the other ships?" Alexander asked picking up his spilled coffee cup.

" _All frigates have lost shielding,_ Athans _and_ Valkyrie _have sustained minor hull breaches,"_ Rax informed, _"while_ Titan _has lost it's main MAC and is running on emergency power, and_ Deimos _has been destroyed with all hands it looks like a lucky shot caught the main fusion reactor."_

 _Damn it,_ Alexander thought, "how many more attacks like that can we survive?" Alexander asked thanking any god listening for their momentary reprieve from the onslaught.

" _It's a 0.5% chance for our fleet to survive to make another attack run,"_ the A.I. said.

"Sir, we have boarding craft incoming," the weapons officer called out.

"Get all saber wings to intercept those boarding craft, and get the crew of…" Alexander was cut off as he fell out of his chair, while more rounds impacted the _Benediction_ shields breaking them and blowing chunks of titanium plate off its broadsides causing the lights to go out and turn an eerie red color signaling that the main reactor has just gone offline.

"Rax, what happened?" Alexander asked picking himself back up, "RAX!"

" _I'm... captain... reserve power..."_ Rax stated with static making only a few words eligible to the human ear.

"Get whatever power you can to the point defense guns, and engage Cole Protocol," Alexander ordered getting nothing but static in return so he activated the ship's intercom, "all crew, prepare to dispel boarding parties," and almost as an afterthought said, "give them hell."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: South Eastern Border of S.R. controlled space…**

 **Location: U.N.S.C.** _ **Benediction**_ **floor C hangar deck** _ **…**_

 **Date: 11 June 2560…**

 **Time: 7:40 military standard time…**

"Johnny… Johnny, come on wake up," a kid no older than 19 years old wearing U.N.S.C. standard issue M52B body armor (Halo Wars 2 marine body armor from the cinematics) awoke to the yammering of his Unggoy squadmate Flal, and the blood red from the lights.

"Yeah, I'm up man," Johnny said to calm his three to four-foot tall squadmate, while he grabbed onto his throbbing head, "ugh, my head, what happened? It feels as if I've been hit by a pair of hunters."

"A crate fell on you, and knocked you out cold," Flal said bluntly, "come on let's get going Sarge is waiting for us in the hangar."

"Okay, I'm getting up," Johnny said shaking his head while standing up. Johnny and Flal moved fast down the corridor they were in, as they moved along they ran past a couple scattered crewmen and marines sitting to the sides holding ice on bandaged head wounds and other injuries.

"Sargent, what's going on?" Johnny asked as him and Flal walked through the hangar bay door toward their squad mates.

" _All crew, prepare to dispel boarding parties,"_ the captain grunted over the loudspeaker.

"Never mind," Johnny turned pale.

"Get your head in the game, Private," the sergeant ordered, "the main bulk of enemy troops will be deploying boarding craft in this hangar bay our, job is to stop these bastards from claiming the ship."

"Hoorah," the squad yelled out.

Johnny's heart pounded in his chest as he aimed down the large hangar using the sights on his M395 DMR from his spot on a catwalk overlooking the entire hangar in clear nervousness from his very first and most likely last engagement if these things were anywhere as ruthless as the covenant he read about in history books, and were told about by his father. 30 of the best sharpshooters in his company including him, were placed strategically across the catwalks around the hangar with at least one in every five having an SRS99-S5 sniper rifle or an M41 SSM Jackhammer rocket launcher to suppress and destroy anyone stupid enough to enter the hangar from the outside entrance. The rest of the company sat patiently behind crates and barricades awaiting the first wave of enemy combatants to fly through, and land on the ship so they could throw automatic fire down range into the kill box.

"How are you doin' buddy?" Flal asked from Johnny's right side holding a Jackhammer launcher in his hands.

"Nothing, so far," Johnny said steeling his determination, "so why am I so anxious?"

"Well you're people call it butterflies in the stomach I think," Flal said in a joking manner.

"Don't you have a section of the catwalk to watch?" Johnny asked gesturing down the walkway.

"But I'm bored," Flal complained.

"Then it sounds like you chose the wrong profession buddy," Johnny joked.

"True, see you later, Johnny," Flal said waddling back to his position as if the day was just another normal day.

 _Yeah, if we survive that long,_ Johnny thought grimly looking back down his DMRs sights.

"Get ready, first dropship wave inbound," his Sargent barked over the comms.

"How many?" one of the other marines asked over comms.

"Six drop ships and four gunships," the sergeant said bluntly, "Jackhammers lock your targets and make sure they only land in a pile of broken metal."

As the ships came flying through the hangar six anti-tank missiles came out of the catwalks above the aliens, two of these missiles made direct hits into the sides of two gunships subsequently blowing two ships to tiny pieces of slag while the rest only made glancing blows to the rest they were aimed at. While only causing minimal damage to their intended targets they still caused them to spiral out of control, crash landing to the ground of the hangar with some exploding in flame on impact to the surface. Total casualties of the hostile force included four means of transport three of which exploded on impact to the deck, and two gunships, leaving four still left in the air and one permanently grounded. The two gunships that survived the initial volley of rockets turned their weapons upon their attackers firing multiple rockets of their own, plus automatic fire killing ten unfortunate souls in the resolved explosions plus collapsing several catwalks killing five more under the weight of steel.

Johnny fired his DMR at one of the gunships aiming for the cockpit. It took half the magazine in his DMR to break through the glass in several places causing the ship to crash and burn into the ruins of the catwalk it had already destroyed. Everyone still alive on the catwalks aimed their rifles at the last gunship and opened fire, in the same manner, this time only taking four shots to bring it down from the sniper rifles 50 caliber rounds the ship ending up in the same manner as the other. Soon after the marines on the catwalks were pinned down by the survivors of the downed crafts on the landing pad and the crews of the gunships.

"Shit," Johnny hissed in pain when he took a direct hit on his shoulder between his armored plates. The wound was not fatal but it still hurt like hell and from what he could test is that the bullet did not leave an exit wound but that would be something he will have to deal with later. Johnny shrugged off the pain, and peaked out of his cover to fire three shots off from his DMR at the hostiles moving across the catwalk to his left with the first two shots breaking the shields of the closest enemy soldier with the last round punching through the creatures armored temple sending it to the ground in a heap of body mass turning his odds from five to one, to four to one. This movement sent pain through his injured shoulder forcing him back behind his cover with enemy fire coming in behind him.

 _This is it,_ Johnny thought, _I'm sorry mom._ Johnny slid out his sidearm an M6H magnum from his holster with his good hand and lifting himself back out of his cover aimed his magnum at the aliens but before he could get a shot off a Jackhammer rocket flew by his head impacting the hostile aliens with a furious explosion of fire and gore.

"You really should be more careful," Flal said in his amused Unggoy nature while he waddled over his Jackhammer rocket launcher smoking, "what would your mother do if I had to up and tell her you died like a jackass."

"I think she'd kill you for not pulling my ass out of the fire," Johnny said with a pained smile gripping his wounded shoulder.

"Come on let's get you to the-" Flal's head exploded from a well placed shot from the last surviving humanoid creature spraying gray matter, and baby blue blood across Johnny's face and chest plate.

"Flal!" Johnny yelled out in horror turning to face the crippled monster holding up its weapon shakily to Johnny next. This was the only time Johnny got to see the aliens without a helmet, the alien had brownish looking skin serrated looking teeth and four hate-filled eyes. Johnny turned aiming his M6H back at the fucker, they both fired off at the same time Johnny's shot blowing off the alien's four-eyed forehead head while the alien's round hit Johnny in the sternum causing him to fall over his cover in a heap.

Johnny laid there his breathing staggered, with his own blood pooling around him, while he grew colder and colder as the seconds ticked on. His life flashing before his eyes from his childhood, through his school life, first kiss, first time driving a car, his first time, basic training where he met Flal his closest friend, his family, all of it coming through in vivid detail. Once this was done he looked over at the mangled corpse of Flal a single tear running down his cheek.

"I'm... sorry… my friend… I'll meet you… at… the bar..." Johnny said shaking with the last of his strength leaving him.

"All marines fall back," he heard his sergeant yell into the comms over the sound of battle that felt so far away before everything was enveloped in a peaceful, soothing darkness.


	3. Chapter 3: Retaliation

**[Updated enjoy]**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Uncharted Space…**

 **Location: Batarian war fleet dreadnought** _ **…**_

 **Date: 01/13/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 9:00 galactic standard time…**

"How is the claiming of these alien's dreadnought coming along?" the Batarian Admiral asked with anger while he looked over the reports from his ships engineering deck. It took three days to get the engines back online for the dreadnoughts in the fleet.

"We've claimed the ship Admiral, but we can't find any ezzo traces on any of their tech which is odd, to say the least," a soldier behind him said.

"How much collateral damage?" the Admiral asked narrowing his four eyes at the silence.

"Three companies were lost, sir," the soldier said, "and all information they had was destroyed with their mainframe."

"And the mercenaries?" the Admiral asked putting away the data pad in frustration.

"All dead," the soldier replied happily, "they were wiped out with the first wave of borders."

"Good," the Admiral growled out, "I want the slaves secure in their cells before we leave this wretched system."

"Yes, sir."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: South Eastern border of S.R. controlled space…**

 **Location: Unknown alien vessel…**

 **Date: 13 June 2560…**

 **Time: 7:50 military standard time...**

"Private, wake up," Johnny heard past the new ringing in his ears.

"Flal, is that you?" Johnny asked weakly opening his eyes to find a young woman over him. The platoon medic that was sent with his group during the battle for the _Benediction_.

"No, he's dead," she said sadly.

"Where are we, ma'am?" Johnny asked sitting up with a sharp pain in his gut, looking around to see a few marines about twenty in total, most having been patched up on one side of the room conversing with the captured Sangheili. While on the other side there was an assortment of alien races huddled together in what Johnny thought was fear.

"We are in a prison onboard one of the alien ships," she said solemnly, "I don't know which one we're on but it's one of the big ones."

"Has anyone tried talking to them yet?" Johnny gestured over to the aliens.

"No, we don't even know their language," she said looking in shock as Johnny stood up, "what are you doing? You need to rest."

"Relax, we're going to be here a while right?" Johnny asked to which the medic nodded, "then we need some good first impressions."

Johnny limped the short distance to the other end of the room with the best smile on his lips. Some of the aliens on the other end scooted back, and away from him. As Johnny got closer he could see that there was at least five or so surprisingly human-looking females with blue skin and tentacles for hair, three puggy four-foot tall things with environmental suits on, and four seven foot tall bird-like aliens with odd blue face paint. After seeing Johnny walk closer with no intent on stopping three of the four distinctly avian aliens stepped in front of him with a stern yet bewildered looks. Johnny immediately stopped five feet in front of them.

"I am Johnny," Johnny said slowly pointing at himself, "I mean you no harm."

"J-Ja-hn-i? Joh-ni?" one of the blue humans said getting a feel for the word. The woman turned to another beside her who looked intrigued and excited at Johnny's presence now, speaking excitedly in her native tongue.

 _That's… Forerunner?_ Johnny realized in surprise clearing his throat and speaking in the little forerunner he knew from classes in high school, " _my name is Johnny. I am a human of the United Earth Government._ "

All the aliens turned their attention to him in astonishment. " _You know our language, how?_ "

" _Well… I only know… very little,_ " Johnny struggled to try to remember the correct words, " _your language is what we humans call_ ' _a dead language'._ "

The aliens murmured amongst themselves before the woman who talked to Johnny first turned back to him. They spoke back and forth asking questions of who he was, what the Sangheili were, and why they were there for a few good hours.

"Private, what's going on here?" Captain Alexander asked walking up behind Johnny making him jump slightly.

"Well, sir I… uh, I thought that since we'd be here for a little while I'd try making a few friends," Johnny stated standing at attention with pain.

"You can relax private," Alexander said, "how are you able to speak their language?"

"They actually speak Forerunner, sir, at least the blue ones do," Johnny said rubbing his noninjured shoulder, "I actually spent my last year of high school studying it."

The blue-skinned woman asked something in Forerunner pointing at Alexander to Johnny who calmly replied back.

"What did she say?" Alexander asked.

"She was wondering who you were, sir," Johnny responded, and Alexander nodded.

"Tell them that we have a makeshift transponder built, and we all will be leaving these slavers soon," Alexander ordered, "make sure they understand what's going to happen in a few hours."

"Yes, sir," Johnny said saluting causing his shoulder to throb as Alexander walked away. Johnny repeated what he could back to the assembled crowd, and they looked bewildered by his statement.

" _Preposterous, standard FTL flight would take several standard months to assemble a fleet size strong enough to take out a fleet of this size,_ " one of the Avian aliens argued, Johnny had figured out that he was a hardened military captain in his good years before retirement and his enslavement.

" _Well from what you've all told me of your technology, we don't have the limits you do,_ " Johnny responded in turn, " _my people have learned a lot when it comes to new races after 34 years of fighting._ "

" _And what's that?_ " the avian alien challenged.

" _That you always need the bigger gun,_ " Johnny said as the walls and floor started to shake.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: South Eastern border of S.R. controlled space…**

 **Location: aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire…**_

 **Date: 13 June 2560…**

 **Time: 9:35 military standard time…**

Admiral Cutter stood at the bridge of his ship _Spirit of Fire_ a brand new prototype ship code-named the _Zeus_ class star dreadnought.

(The _Spirit of Fire_ is the flagship to the Hades battle group the battle group consisting of six cruisers of varied classes, with six frigates of a mixture of classes per cruiser with two battleships, and two carrier types per cruiser. This formation of ships would then have smaller corvette support ships to make on the spot repairs, refuel, and act as fighter screening with point defense guns. All ships in this contingent would be lead by an Infinity class or a star dreadnought class warship. Overall the U.N.S.C. can pull around five fleets of this size which is spread thinly across U.G.R. controlled space.)

Cutter had the flagship renamed in memory of his old rust bucket back on the first month of the new year after the old girl was decommissioned in 2559, and he and his surviving crew were given promotions. Those of Cutters former bridge staff were now captains in their own rights, their ships docked in the _Spirit of Fire's_ frigate/ Cruiser launching bays (there are twelve) sticking with their leader through the gates of hell when the need arises.

"I can't believe we've got another alien threat to deal with," a woman in her early thirties wearing a black suit with the O.N.I. logo sewn into the left bicep, sighed while rubbing the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb.

"Just like old times, Agent Anders?" Cutter chuckled.

"I guess so, I just hope it doesn't end up like last time," Anders said with a slight smile on her lips, "and it's, Ellen to you, James, you know that."

"You know me, and the others will never let you live that one down," Cutter informed her referring to how Anders became an O.N.I. spook the second she set foot back in U.N.S.C. space.

"I know but it was the only way I could make sure you don't do something crazy without me being along for the ride," Anders said nudging Cutter's arm.

"Fleet Master," the navigations officer a Sangheili named Khes 'Mosov called out, "we will be exiting slipspace in ti-minus ten minutes."

"Thank you," Cutter nodded, "get your Spartan teams ready for offensive boarding actions, Ellen."

"Yes sir," Anders saluted the Admiral and turned walking out of the bridge with purpose.

"Someone get me a full scan of the system as soon as we enter real space," Cutter ordered, "I want all anomalies accounted for, escape pod beacons, F.O.F. tags, you name it."

"Sir, yes, sir," the bridge crew yelled out as Battle Group Hades exited slipspace.

"Admiral Cutter, I'm picking up three beacons, and at least five pelican transponders," the human communications officer informed.

"Where?" Admiral Cutter asked, walking over to look over the communications officers shoulder.

"The pelicans are to the right of our position seven lighters away, and the transponders are coming from the enemies three largest ships which are roughly the size of our small cruisers in the hostile fleet," he informed.

"Good, send a message to those pelicans to start flying this way," Cutter ordered, "and someone get me a fighterwing to escort them in."

"What about the transponders?" the officer asked.

"Get those coordinates to, O.N.I. Agent Anders," Cutter told the officer while he turned to face the viewport, "she'll take it from there."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Western Border of U.N.S.C. controlled space…**

 **Location: aboard U.N.S.C. Pelican** _ **…**_

 **Date: 13 June 2560…**

 **Time: 12:00 military standard time…**

Jerome-092 sat in the cargo hold of a Pelican dropship, doing the final checks on his silenced BR55HB (or as most people know it the Halo 3 Battle Rifle) with the rest of Red Team awaiting their instructions and assignments. Red Team was clad in a new version of the Mjolnir armor sets which resembled the Mrk. VII armor set in a mat sage green color with their squad's red insignia painted onto their left shoulder plate, but with the added alteration of an inbuilt cloaking device, shield system and thruster pack which to the Spartan II's of Red Team saw as a major upgrade to what they were equipped with before they were finally found.

"Isabel, what's our mission?" Jerome asked his most recent A.I. companion, Isabel.

Isabel was formerly a U.N.S.C. research A.I. construct on the Ark (or installation-00 by the eggheads) before the former U.N.S.C. _Spirit of Fire_ stumbled upon the once war-torn Ark.

" _Our mission in layman's terms is to infiltrate one of larger ships holding U.N.S.C. beacons in the enemy's fleet, disable the bridge, neutralize all combat personnel, and rescue all U.N.S.C. survivors aboard,_ " Isabel informed Red Team, " _we will be hitting the ship in ti-minus ten minutes._ "

"What does our support look like?" Douglas-042 asked over the team's personal comlink as he finished his weapons check on his own silenced BR55HB.

" _We will be assisted by two Spartan IV fire teams,_ " Isabel said after a split second of silence, _"Team Domino, and Team Damocles respectively."_

"Isabel, get me a connection to the IV's," Jerome ordered.

" _Connected,"_ Isabel responded immediately.

"All right everyone listen up, as soon as we get aboard, Douglas, take Fireteam Domino, head toward their brig, and get our people ready for extraction," Jerome ordered receiving a green flash from Douglas's F.O.F. tag, "Alice, you take Fireteam Damocles, and secure the hanger for our drop ships to land safely."

(Again receiving the same green colored click.)

"Okay, Red Team we're as close as I can get without being spotted by their fighter patrols," the pelican pilot said from the cockpit, "good hunting Spartans, and get me a nice looking trinket while you're on vacation."

" _Can do, pilot_ ," Isabel said cheerily. The rear hatch on Red Team's pelican opened to the vacuum of space allowing the Spartan II's easy exit to the ship while using their thrusters to propel them out.

"Everyone group up on me, and activate your active camouflage," Jerome ordered becoming almost completely invisible to the naked untrained eye.

As the eleven Spartans floated silently through the vacuum, Battle Group Hades came through slipspace portals to surround the enemy fleet and began opening fire with everything against the alien fleet easily wiping clear twenty combat ships in the first volley of M.A.C. shots, and crippling the rest which held the escape pods.

"Admiral Cutter we are on final approach to our target," Jerome transmitted, "I request the disabling of alien crafts shields."

' _Copy that, Commander,"_ Cutter responded as the _Spirit of Fire_ turned for a broadside, and launched thirteen low yield coil-gun shots at the craft. The shield on the warship flickered and deflected the first ten shots but the last rounds broke the shield. Some merely grazed the hull or embedded themselves in a side section of the ship, disabling several point defense guns across the end of it where the Spartans were encroaching.

"All units make a break for that hanger to the right of that wing," Jerome ordered blinking on the hanger to place a waypoint and firing thrusters to maximum causing his cloaking to be disabled as he and the other Spartans B-lined it toward the hanger.

The Spartans flew through the hanger's O2 shielding pulling their BR55HBs from their mag-locks, and slammed into a group unlucky alien troopers, flattening some, and throwing others away under the weight, and velocity of the Spartans not so subtle entrance. The Spartans moved at a mechanical inhumanly fast speed as they came up taking some rifle rounds which bounced harmlessly off their energy shielding.

"Weapons free," Jerome ordered calmly over the comlink to the soldiers under his command as the Spartans rounded on the would be defenders sending two bursts of armor-piercing lead into the torsos of each one of the defenders.

"Where are our objectives located?" Jerome asked Isabel.

" _One second, searching,"_ Isabel said, before going silent for a full half second, _"okay, I've updated your waypoints."_

Jerome's visor lit up a bulkhead door for an elevator to the far right. "Everyone, meet back here when done," Jerome said, "we'll leave the marines to finish clearing out the ship properly."

"Copy that, commander," one of the IVs acknowledged, "good hunting."

The Spartan group split up, Jerome heading for an elevator, leaving the rest of the Spartans to complete their own tasks.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **For all of you who want to see more Spartans kicking ass I do plan on dedicating an entire chapter to that but to do so I would like everyone that wants to, to send a message by P.M. to me with a Spartan-IV from the Spirit of Fire 2.0. The character must be from the old crew, and details on names, ranks, gender Male/Female, personality, and a brief overview of their history before the war is important for the Character. I will be choosing the best eight Spartan IV characters in my opinion for Fireteams Domino, and Damocles.**

 **(⅜ Spartans received so far, the minimum number needed for the next chapter is 4 Spartans)**


	4. Chapter 4: Retaliation II

**To those of you that are leaving comments about my grammar issues, tech levels of the factions and stuff like that I just want you to know that I am still new to writing Fanfiction especially when it comes to crossovers and I am checking wikis every couple paragraphs. So I'd appreciate PM's on what I got wrong with links to sites or page numbers in books to what I missed. Don't just slam me with reviews that don't help whatsoever, plus I've got well over 100 people who like this story (at least slightly) so far so I must be doing something right.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart:** **Serpent Nebula…**

 **Location: Citadel council chambers…**

 **Date: 01/12/2157 CE… [one day before U.N.S.C. retaliation]**

 **Time: 12:00 galactic standard time…**

"What do you wish to speak with me about Councillors?" a Batarian asked with his hands clasped behind his back, and an annoyed look in his eyes.

"We want to know why you've attacked an unidentified race out in the Terminus Expanse," Councillor Tevos said her eyes narrowed in annoyance at the Batarian.

"It's very simple Councillor they are encroaching on my people's territory so we sent out a proper response to such transgressions," the Batarian said nonchalantly, "we've done the same thing to more primitive races before."

"That is true but this race obviously has the ability of interstellar flight," Valern argued his point, _which is quite advanced if I do say so myself._

"There is also the point that the five ships that fought back against your assault had heavy enough weapons to disable a dreadnought and two carriers with single shots from their main cannons," Sparatus stated crossing his arms contemplating what to do, "you may have just started a war you cannot win, Batarian."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Western Border of U.N.S.C. controlled space…**

 **Location: aboard unknown alien flagship** _ **…**_

 **Date: 13 June 2560…**

 **Time: 12:10 military standard time…**

 _How much longer for this?_ Jerome thought to himself frowning behind his gold tinted visor, growing slightly impatient as the elevator slowly moved, "how much longer?"

" _Shouldn't be that much longer now,"_ Isabel said in a bored tone of voice which made Jerome clench his BR55HB tighter in his hands.

"They have a trap waiting don't they?" Jerome asked his sensors starting to pick up movement on the other side of the door.

" _From what I've been able to see by tapping into their cameras is, yes,"_ Isabel said in a matter of fact tone, _"what's the plan?"_

"How fast can you deploy a hard light shield?" Jerome asked putting his BR on the mag-plate on his back.

" _In a nanosecond,"_ Isabel replied.

"On my mark deploy the shield," Jerome ordered when they came to a stop, "now." The door panel flashed green, opening the door to a hail of rifle rounds from ten guards behind makeshift barricades. Every round harmlessly bouncing off the rectangular translucent blue shield mounted in Jerome's right gauntlet.

"How much power do I have left?" Jerome asked.

" _95% power,"_ Isabel responded.

Jerome closed his hand dropping the hard light shield while pulling his BR55HB back out along with a frag grenade. Jerome tossed the grenade underhanded at the enemy soldiers, bouncing off the rearmost one, and exploding in the back line killing two. While the grenade was exploding, Jerome sent four, armor piercing, three round bursts into the chests of the first two contacts closest to him dropping them easily with the cold, calculated proficiency only a Spartan-II could pull off. The six soldiers left leveled their weapons on Jerome spraying him with automatic fire after one yelled out in anger in his native tongue. The hail of fire popped his shields and pinged off the titanium plate of his armor before Jerome ducked into cover behind a crate, effectively being pinned down by the weight of fire from the aliens. One of the aliens yelled out again, with one going around to flank Jerome which turned out to be a bad idea as soon as the alien soldier turned the corner, Jerome sprung out of his cover ceasing the alien with one hand to his throat and the other planting a plasma grenade to his chest, after attaching the plasma grenade Jerome threw the alien toward his comrades, crushing three of them. The pile of soldiers exploded in a blinding burst of plasma fire, killing five, and seriously wounding the last.

" _I don't think I'll ever get used to this,"_ Isabel complimented which caused the corners of Jerome's mouth to twitch slightly in a smile.

"How much farther to the bridge?" Jerome asked reloading his BR55HB instantly wiping away the little hint of the smile on his face like he'd been trained to do so many years.

" _Just a little further, we've got two airlock doors to go through before we reach the bridge,"_ Isabel chuckled, _"I think they're scared of you."_

Jerome marched down the reinforced hallway leaving the only survivor to bleed out.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart:** **Uncharted space…**

 **Location: Remnants of Batarian war fleet crippled Dreadnought bridge…**

 **Date: 01/13/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 12:19 galactic standard time…**

"How is that even possible?!" the Batarian Admiral yelled out sweat pouring from his brow under his helmet in fear, throwing the data pad at the other side of the bridge breaking it, "nothing natural can pull that kind of maneuver off let alone survive the weight of fire of my ten best troops!"

"Sir they're stronger than expected that's all," one of his bridge guards tried to argue.

"There is only eleven of them!" the Admiral roared, "and they've torn through half my ship without even batting an eye!" At that moment the sealed blast door to the bridge turned into multen slag with an explosion of bright bluish-purple light.

"Open fire, KILL IT!" the admiral ordered taking up a Vindicator, unloading the entire mag of his weapon down the breach, along with everyone else on the bridge.

 _It's finally dead,_ the Batarian admiral gave a sigh of relief that caught in his throat as he saw a translucent blue shield, _WHY WON'T YOU DIE!_ The Admiral attempted to fire his weapon again but quickly turned pale as he heard the dry click of the rifle. The large green armor clad invader's shield disintegrated as he pulled out a rifle firing a three-shot burst into the Admirals thy, bypassing his armor, and sending him to the ground in pain.

 **XXXXXXXX**

Jerome fired his BR at what he assessed as the commanding officer of the ship if the thing's barking meant anything. Jerome turned to the rest of the bridge crew their weapons raised in trembling fists at him. Jerome pointed at the ground with an armored gauntlet motioning for them to lay their weapons down, which they all did. Jerome moved them to the front of the bridge locking their hands behind their backs in with hard light handcuffs to subdue the bridge crew.

" _Spirit of Fire_ this is Red Actual, the bridge is secure," Jerome confirmed over his com-link, "requesting permission to commence upload of the ships data drives, hail copy?"

"Copy that Red Actual, you are clear to proceed," Admiral Cutter confirmed.

"I request a squad of marines to the bridge now for security detail," Jerome ordered over local coms as he finished scanning the room.

"This is alpha squad we're making our way to you, sir," a marine called over comms.

"Are you sure you can interface with this tech?" Jerome asked stepping up to one of the holographic panels.

"I'm sure if I can sync with Forerunner tech this should be a piece of cake," Isabel responded with a slightly cocky attitude. Jerome pulled her chip out the back of his head, ignoring the cold emptiness, and synced her chip to the projection. "So?"

" _It is slightly easy to crack down on,"_ Isabel sounded intrigued as her holographic form appeared throwing files of code into two separate stacks.

"What is with the files?" Jerome asked after a good 30 minutes of waiting.

" _The dumb A.I. on this boat keeps trying to throw me off with junk, and inadequate firewalls,"_ Isabel said in annoyance pointing behind Jerome, _"by the way the commander of this ship is trying to crawl away."_

"I'm well aware, he won't get far," Jerome said seeing six green dots appear on his motion tracker, moving toward the entrance planting his boot on the alien captain/admiral's back.

"Sorry about the wait commander we had to deal with a few of these aliens hold up in the ship's armory before we got here," the sergeant of the squad explained saluting to the Spartan.

"No need, sergeant," Jerome said saluting back.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **That's chapter four for you hope you like it. A little short but, hey there is only so much you can do with one character's POV. in a combat scene.**

 **On a different note, I still need one more Spartan to get the next chapter up and rolling. By the way to those of you that have PMed me OC's so far, you can have more than one OC in this story.**


	5. Chapter 5: Retaliation III

**Hello everyone first of all shout out to those of you that have donated such wonderful OCs.**

 **TheIrishWriter**

 **Zerochance117**

 **Dancing of Doom**

 **RedRat8**

 **Zeus501**

 **Second off to those of you that are complaining about the U.N.S.C. shields/armor being stronger than what Mass Effect can throw at it, that is true but if you remember Mass Effect mass driver weapons in enough numbers can take down a Reaper and I personally don't think that the U.N.S.C. shields are any stronger than that of a Reaper's at the time of 2560. Plus if you remember in the first engagement the Mass Effect faction that did attack had overwhelming force, add in the fact that the U.N.S.C. were not committing to deadly force, compared to the engagement from the last chapter when the U.N.S.C. had an even/ larger force at least in ship count which wiped the floor with the Batarians. Now go sit down in a corner and think about what you've done, while the rest of us enjoy the story.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: South Eastern border of S.R. controlled space…**

 **Location: aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire…**_

 **Date: 13 June 2560…**

 **Time: 12:10 military standard time…**

"Admiral there is a corvette size ship moving toward the edge of the system should I get a frigate to intercept?" one of the bridge officers called out from the far left of the room.

"No, let them go," Cutter said waving it off.

"Sir?" the officer asked astonished.

"Let them take a word of what happened here, back to their people," Cutter said looking over the reports of the Fire Teams sent to extract the P.O.W.s and claim the enemy ships.

"Why?" the officer asked.

"So they know that we are not something to be messed with," Cutter clarified.

"Yes, sir," the officer returned back to his screen.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"Well that was disappointing," a woman wearing an Intruder Class Mjolnir Gen II armor, colored black with a red visor said, holstering her SMG as the last of the Batarian soldiers fell to the ground in bloody heaps.

"Edge, is right," a male with a gruff voice in black Gen II ODST Spartan armor said reloading his BR85HB turning to Spartan Douglas for an answer, who was scanning the hall up ahead, "that was too easy, what do you think of it, Red two?"

"I don't know, Blaze," Douglas replied, "fan out and watch your corners, there might be a trap up ahead."

"Hey, Veronica, can I get a little help cracking this thing?" a man in blue Gen II Scout armor, with a gold visor asked curiously with a heavy Irish accent, detaching an orange hard light device from one of the Batarian's arms that seemed to be some sort of radio and plugged it to his wrist computer.

" _I can try,"_ the AI replied cheerily in Irish before going silent again.

"What are you doing, Wolf?" Edge asked turning toward him in a questioning stance.

"Nothin' much just a little hacking," Wolf said typing away on his wrist computer.

"Why?" Edge asked.

"I'm trying to see if I can't make things easier on us and the eggheads by using speech translator algorithms, and infiltration software against this curious little device," Wolf responded nonchalantly.

"Wolf, Edge, get over here we've got more contact up here," Douglas called over the comms.

"We're on our way," Wolf responded shutting down his wrist computer, letting Veronica handle the hacking for now.

Wolf and Edge ran through the halls finding their unit a few meters up taking cover behind crates from the fire coming from the enemy position on the other side.

"There you two are," Blaze called with a laugh ducking out of cover to send two three-round bursts across the room into the closest visible enemy who was easily put down by the mass reactive armor piercing rounds, "we saved you some."

"How sweet," Edge giggled pulling out her magnum, sending two precise rounds into a Batarian who tried firing on Blaze's exposed flank. The rounds only bounced off the alien's personal shield but it was enough to force him back down behind cover for the time being.

"They have fortified this area more thoroughly than the other holdout spots they've had set up," Wolf stated, rolling out of cover to send a grenade into a collection of five soldiers to his right and shot down two more hostiles to his left with four three round bursts from his rifle.

"That means we're close to our objective," Blaze grunted taking a direct shot from two of the alien rifles finally breaking his shields, smashing against his left shoulder and chest plate sending him back behind cover to let his shields replenish.

"Leonidas," Edge called out in worry firing her magnum six times at the two threats that dared hit Blaze, killing one and sending the other back behind cover.

"I'm green, Edge," Blaze called back to her with reassurance and humor in his voice, "the fuckers just scratched the paint, is all."

"You, Jackass," Edge yelled in amusement as she sent a few more rounds down range.

"You know you love it, cover me!" Blaze called over the two's personal comms, jumping back out of cover with M6D, and an energy sword in hand. Edge switched her magnum out for her SMG and riddled the hostiles that tried aiming at Blaze with automatic fire as Blaze shot down two soldiers with his M6D in one hand while cleaving down three others with an energy sword in the other. Another Spartan came up supporting his squad leader in CQC with a kukri in hand while wearing grey Gen II Scout armor.

 _Their shields don't work in an extremely close range,_ Douglas noted as he saw the two Spartan IV's cleave down multiple hostels in close quarters, with inhuman speeds only Spartans could pull off. "Everyone, push up to close quarters combat, they're more vulnerable that way," Douglas ordered over the squad comlink swapping his BR55HB for his combat knife and deploying a hard light shield to use as cover while he crossed the makeshift no-man's-land of the fight. The other two followed suit using a combination of their magnums/SMGs, combat knives, and bare hands to eliminate the remaining enemies on deck.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"Hey, ass hat," one of the marines from the _Benediction_ laughed/taunted the only guard left in the cell block while pounding on the energy field of the cell, "if you let us go know you might survive what's coming through that door!"

The guard was scared witlessly unable to understand the human language while simultaneously hearing his friends get brutalized outside.

" _Why does that soldier taunt the Batarian like a raging Krogan_?" Johnny's Asari friend asked.

" _Most of us humans are a very vengeful, and prideful race,_ " Johnny informed rubbing the back of his neck again, " _it has become more prominent since the Great War, with the 'being pushed to extinction' and all._ "

Johnny had told them about the war and what humanity lost before they finally won. A couple of the Asari that were old enough to remember what they called the "Krogan Rebellions" drawing parallels between the two wars but all agreed that the Covenant War was ten times more destructive than anything the Rebellions could muster.

" _War brings out the worse in all of us,_ " a Turian sighed.

" _We humans have a saying,_ " Johnny said rubbing his still wounded shoulder, " _it's actually why we became the Military Republic we are now and to make sure humanity was never pushed that far ever again_."

" _What's the saying?_ " the Asari asked.

" _A soldier is the only person that doesn't want war,_ " Johnny said as the steel door to the cell block exploded in a shower of white blue energy.

"Very true," one of the Turians nodded his head in agreement.

"Alright everyone, form up we're leaving," Captain Alexander ordered at the head of a congregation of marines and male Sangheili. The civilians were flanked on all sides by the soldiers of the U.N.S.C. who were ready to lay down their lives to protect the civilians.

Not a minute later a large seven to eight foot tall green armored man stepped in front of the shield.

"Captain, status report," the figure demanded.

"I have wounded in need of higher grade medical care and civilians," Alexander responded.

"How many?" the Spartan asked.

"70 including civilians," Alexander responded.

"Wolf how much longer?" the Spartan asked over his team wide comlink.

"Almost there it's just being a pain in my arse to work with," Wolf growled, "they use a rather redundant tech system to make these things work which is an annoyance to find a workaround for… there they should be free now."

The shield flickered off and everyone filed out the newer species looking toward the large figure in awe. " _What is that thing, Johnny_?" the Asari asked Johnny while helping him to move.

"He _is a Spartan,_ " Johnny told her causing the woman to go slack-jawed in shock.

"This is Red actual to Red two, what's your status?" Jerome called over the personal red team comlink.

"This is red two, the P.O.W.s are secure we've got seventy in total," Douglas informed his leader as he and Fire Team Domino formed a defensive perimeter around the civilians and unarmed soldiers.

"Copy that meet back at the hanger as soon as you can," Jerome ordered as a waypoint appeared on his screen marking the way that they came.

"When we get back to the _Spirit of Fire_ I'm buying the first pint," Wolf said stretching.

"You do realize we physically are unable to get drunk right?" Edge asked Wolf sarcastically.

"Toshay," Wolf laughed as they marched back through the way they came passed the carnage they left in the halls.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed it and again thank you for those of you who have donated OCs to the list. Those of you that didn't see your Spartans yet don't worry you'll be seeing them a bit later on.**


	6. Chapter 6: Calm Before the Storm

**Welcome back everyone, just a fair warning to those of you still out for Batarian blood this chapter will mainly be a dialog filled chapter and to those of you who like that sort of thing have fun.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: South Eastern border of S.R. controlled space…**

 **Location: aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire…**_

 **Date: 13 June 2560…**

 **Time: 17:00 military standard time…**

"Captain Alexander to the bridge for debriefing," Cutter called over the _Spirit of Fire's_ loudspeakers as he finished reading through the reports from the claiming of the enemy ships. Of course, there are still minor holdouts on some of them, but the main systems were under U.N.S.C. control it was just a matter of time until they either gave up or were wiped off the board.

" _Admiral Cutter I've finally translated the alien data we were able to grab from their flagship,"_ Isabel informed her form appearing on a holographic pedestal next to Cutter her features making her look confident.

"That was quick," Cutter stated a small barely noticeable smile crossing his features.

" _It would have taken longer but with the help from Private Johnny Maxwell on the information that they speak the ancient Forerunner dialect, it saved time by 75.9%,"_ Isabel said.

"Good, send a translated copy to HIGHCOM and my private terminal," Cutter ordered as Alexander walked onto the bridge standing at attention.

"You asked for me, Admiral?" Alexander asked.

"Yes, I wanted to know why you didn't fulfill Cole Protocol?" Cutter said turning to face the battered captain.

"Our main engine was out of commission, and Rax connection to the reactor was severed," Alexander explained.

"You could have sent a team with explosives to detonate it manually," Cutter said harshly.

"We couldn't get to engineering, the enemy made sure to land a sizeable chunk of their force to that location," Alexander defended himself, "it was like they knew exactly when and how to hit us."

"That's impossible they couldn't have known our doctrines or naval protocols," Cutter argued.

"I don't know sir that's above my pay grade," Alexander said slumping in defeat.

"Okay, captain I'm going to send a report of this back to HIGHCOM until they figure out what to do with you, you're free to return to your ship and oversee the repairs," Cutter said sighing.

"Yes, sir," Alexander sauteed Cutter before leaving the bridge.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: South Eastern border of S.R. controlled space…**

 **Location: planetside of Sangheili colony** _ **…**_

 **Date: 19 June 2560…**

 **Time: 17:00 military standard time…**

"To the young blood, and his new promotion," Johnny's sergeant toasted lifting up his glass of whiskey in a toast to Johnny finally returning to active duty and earning the rank Corporal by Cutter, the remnants of Johnny's squad yelling out "HOORAH" downing their glasses with laughs. All except Johnny who stood up with a sigh.

"To all those, we lost on the _Benediction_ ," Johnny said downing his glass of alcohol which burned as it went down, the unit went quiet for a moment of silence.

60% of the Marine compliment and a detachment of 40 Spartans from the battle group holding over the planet were helping the Sangheili colonists rebuild the colony back to self-sustaining levels while setting up defenses in the event of another invasion. The bar they were currently in was one of the few things that were still intact when Johnny's squad went planetside.

They spent most of their days building back up hospitals, factories, and a couple residential districts so the residents of the planet could return to their homes. The most daunting task that they had to do was burying the dead. After every day they would meet at the bar to unwind.

"I can't wait to take the fight to those four-eyed fucks," a marine from Johnny's squad growled, "we lost too many good people in that fight."

"Agreed," another marine called out from across the bar, a Sangheili still in his forest green battle plate.

"Don't worry you greenhorns will be able to give them a belly full of lead when the time is right," a large man no taller than seven foot said with a humored smile across his tanned scarred features. He walked into the bar making the room turn quiet in his presence.

"Spartans on deck," Johnny's sergeant yelled out, standing up and saluting along with everyone else, as three more Spartans walked in behind the first. One female of obvious Asian descent, and two other males one with a more Irish look, and the other with blond hair and sideburns along with an eyepatch. All of their faces showing plasma scarring of the last dire war humanity fought.

"At ease marines," the lead Spartan chuckled before his face turned grim, "but right now we mourn our dead and rebuild the homes we were tasked with retaking."

"What makes them so high and mighty, we've done the same things they're no II's?" a young marine to Johnny's right no older than he was questioned obviously unable to hold his liquor.

"Watch your mouth, Jax," Johnny nudged the marine, "those are the Spartans are war heroes from the Great War."

"No kidding? Well, the Asian one doesn't look half bad for her 50's if you catch my drift," another marine chuckled as he gazed at her... 'assets'.

"Jackass," Johnny said under his breath as he rolled his eyes.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Dark Space Installation 00…**

 **Location: Capital City 2 miles Southeast Of the Ark's Control Room** _ **…**_

 **Date: 20 June 2560…**

 **Time: 14:10 military standard time…**

"This war council will now begin," an A.I. in a 20th-century judge uniform boomed out over the loudspeakers from its pedestal in the middle of the wide conference hall, "all representatives of the A.U.R. may take your seats."

The representatives consisted of the Arbiter for the Sangheili Republic, Yap Yap for the Parlement of Unified Systems, April Orenski for the United Earth Government, Tyraxus for the Freeholds, and Princeps Eischal 'Kaluur for the Veiled Dominion. These governing bodies make up the main bulk of the A.U.R. military and scientific powers.

"I have gathered us here today to inform you all of the growing threat to our shared eastern border," April said being the one that had previously called for the war council 24 hours ago. April tapped the screen to the holo-pad in front of her displaying the form of an angry Batarian on a large screen.

"Roughly nine days ago a U.N.S.C. patrol group was responding to a distress call in the outer colonies to our eastern fringe," Orenski explained judging their reactions, "when they encountered this..." she tapped her pad again showing a large forty ship fleet hovering over a Sangheili world, a short clip of the ground invasion that was transmitted to the patrol, and lastly the counter assault and fall of the patrol group.

"It should be obvious, we should send a fleet to crush and subjugate these upstarts," the Princeps of the V.D. shrugged sitting back in his seat with a bored expression on his face, "it worked well enough for those who supported the Covenant."

"That would be the case with any other threat but these _upstarts_ are under the banner of this 'Citadel Council' at least partly since from what our intell has gathered it's a bumpy relationship," Orenski explained showing another picture of a ring with five ward arms (which was pathetically small compared to what the A.U.R. had on any given day) along with full body pictures of three other races (Asari, Salarian, and Turian), "this Council from what we've been able to pull from their star charts is based out in what we call the Serpent Nebula, and have been active for well over 2000 years."

"So is it like another Covenant?" Yap Yap asked frowning behind his rebreather.

"Yes and no," Orenski replied, "but if we launch an assault on the Batarians this council will support them. Which brings in the event that we would be outnumbered by at least four to one odds if they have been building onto their fleets regularly every solar month like we have been doing for the last seven years."

"And what's the worst odds?" the Arbiter asked speaking for the first time this meeting.

"Ten to one if they were to throw everything at us," Orenski sighed grimly.

"Does not matter we have superior technological firepower," Eischal 'Kaluur waved the threat off once again.

"You must remember, Princeps, that there is power in numbers which they do hold against us in any event that we go to war with this 2000-year-old coalition," the Arbiter warned in an almost parent-like tone, "that's why the humans were able to hold the Covenant and even my personal fleet at bay for so long during the Great War."

"That's why before we launch any kind of offensive against the Batarians, I wish to send an emissary representing the A.U.R. to the Citadel Council to make sure they stay out of this conflict," Orenski made her point and went silent to judge the other member's thoughts and expressions.

"I agree," the Arbiter sighed standing up, "it is obvious we need to fight back but we also need this 'Council' to not interfere."

"Thank you, Arbiter," April sighed.

"But we need to make a show of force," the Arbiter continued, "it will give us the political pull we need as well as deliver the freed slaves from our care and back to their people."

"How many ships do you think we'll need?" April asked.

"A full War Congregation to both the Citadel for our emissary's escort, and one to Batarian controlled space to kick-start our response to invasion," the Arbiter clarified with the same tactical knowledge of his youth, "and after the meeting is complete with the Citadel Council we send the other fleet to attack the Batarians on another front to hopefully split their numbers."

"I second this motion," Yap Yap called out, standing on his stubby legs, "we need to show our dominance over this 'Council'."

"Anyone who agrees with these terms, say, 'I'," the A.I. called out again, followed by the room erupting with the word 'I', "motion unanimous."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart:** **Serpent Nebula…**

 **Location: Citadel C-sec traffic control room…**

 **Date: 02/13/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 12:00 galactic standard time…**

A young Turian by the name Tiberius sat in his normal boring position at the C-sec traffic control deck watching as trade ships of the different Citadel species came in and out of the Citadel on their standard routine marked by their F.O.F. tags.

 _Ah, the all so glamorous life of a C-sec officer,_ Tiberius sighed rubbing his eyes and yawning, _why did I leave the Turian Military again?_

" _UNKNOWN ENERGY SIGNATURES DETECTED! UNKNOWN ENERGY SIGNATURES DETECTED!"_ the V.I. assigned to Tiberius' station repeated over and over again until he opened a video feed to the signatures location only to find the fabric of space to be torn apart ten light years away from one of the ward arms. Soon enough 200 warships of unknown origin came through the rift in space, every single one of them cruiser size and up followed by a massive ship the size of the Citadel itself. This fleet drifted in a standard defense line formation around the super dreadnought as it expelled six more dreadnoughts from its cargo bays.

"Sir, are you seeing this?" Tiberius asked in horror, pulling up his omnitool for a comlink to his commanding officer.

"Close the Citadel arms now!" Tiberius' superior panicked. The arms slowly began closing before they got a transmission.

"Hello?" Tiberius answered getting a video feed of a tan colored Asari looking creature, but it held more masculine features along with white fur on its face, giving it a more grizzled and wise appearance.

"I am Vice Admiral Cutter of the War Congregation Hades," the alien said, "on behalf of the Alliance of Unified Races, we wish to speak with your Citadel Council."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **There you go the next chapter hope you all liked it. I think I'm going to keep all the big exposition dumps in the closing notes of each chapter from now on so you guys/girls that want to understand what these new things are lore wise and those of you only here to read a fanfic can skip over me babbling on can go to the next chapter.**

 **A single 'War Congregation' is made up of 200 warships, and the U.N.S.C. has ten of these in its pocket.**

 **1\. OLYMPUS: defending the Sol system and its surrounding 300 inner colonies, led by Grand Admiral Hood (human) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **Atlas**_ **.**

 **2\. PALADIN: defending the U.E.G. 300 outer Colonies, led by Rear Admiral Lasky (human) onboard the Supercarrier U.N.S.C.** _ **Infinity.**_

 **3\. TITAN: defending 200 glassed colonies being terraformed, lead by Fleet Master Rtis 'Radom (Sangheili) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **Profits Bain**_ **.**

 **4\. SWORD: defending the S.R. home system and its 200 inner colonies lead by Fleet Master Rtas 'Vadum (Sangheili) onboard the CAS-class Assault Carrier U.N.S.C.** _ **Shadow of Intent**_ **.**

 **5\. SPEAR: defending 100 S.R. outer colonies, led by Fleet Master Mrivo 'Natam (Sangheili) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **Vengeance of Sanghelios**_ **.**

 **6\. HADES: defending 200 frontier colonies on the eastern border, led by Vice Admiral Cutter (human) onboard the Star-Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire**_ **.**

 **7\. WARDEN: defending the P.U.S. 400 inner and outer colonies, lead by Admiral Yulul (Unggoy) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **Strong in Numbers**_ **.**

 **8\. VALOR: defending 300 V.D. inner colonies, led by Fleet Master Jar 'Kodam (Sangheili) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **Fall of the Forerunners.**_

 **9\. BASTION: defending the V.D. 400 outer colonies, lead by Admiral Yeth Ren (Kig-Yar) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **Against the Dawn.**_

 **10\. CERBERUS: holding the border between A.U.R. and Confederacy of Former Covenant States territory, lead by Admiral Makarov (human) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **Helldriver**_ **.**


	7. Chapter 7: Diplomacy

**Hi everyone, wow over 200 of you guys like this story so far and this is only chapter 7. I'm actually kind of shocked thank you all for the overwhelming support so far. Just a heads up for later chapters, they might start coming out at slower paces due to life throwing a curveball at me, but all the free time I can muster will be used to write these chapters.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **[Five days before U.N.S.C. retaliatory strike on Batarian space.]**

 **Star Chart:** **Serpent Nebula…**

 **Location: Citadel C-sec docking bay…**

 **Date: 13 February 2560…**

 **Time: 13:50 military standard time…**

Cutter walked into the docking hanger of the Citadel from the pelican dropship they used to dock, flanked by the three Spartan II's of Red Team. The only weapons on them being an M7 SMG which in the hand of a Spartan was still as lethal as an ODST with an MA5 series rifle. Cutter was also accompanied by two Sangheili diplomats, one representing the S.R. and the other the V.D., as well as an Unggoy for the P.U.S., that left Cutter to be assigned to carry out this mission as the human representative for the U.E.G. and carry out orders to scuttle the Citadel if thing was to go fubar when the culling of the Council from defending the Batarians.

Cutter felt tense like something was trying to worm its way into his skull. He hadn't felt this way since the Covenant War, everything felt too perfect, too natural and organic to not be a massive trap but he couldn't place why he was feeling that way. As Cutter looked at those around him, he could tell they felt the same way, even the stoic form of the Spartans with their hands just millimeters away from their firearms.

"Red Team, stay on guard, I have a bad feeling about this place," Cutter ordered.

"Affirmative," Jerome complied over coms as the elevator to the far end of the deck opened up.

An Asari in what Cutter could tell as a police uniform walked out of the elevator toward the emissaries with a slightly worried expression on her face as she eyed up the heavily armored Spartans imposing visage. "Good afternoon ambassadors, I will be your C-Sec guide to the Council chambers if you would follow me please," the woman said in a remarkably calm tone that betrayed her body language.

"Thank you," the S.R. ambassador bowed his head slightly, "we would like to reach our meeting as soon as possible."

"First of all, you must relinquish all weapons on your person before you can exit this hangar," the Asari said looking at the SMGs attached the Spartans hips, "and leave your combat bots here it's Citadel policy."

"Negative ma'am," Jerome said in a low, threatening tone, "our mission is to protect our representatives."

" _He_ is correct they will stay at our sides for the duration of our stay on this station," Cutter informed her as he turned toward Jerome, "Red Actual tell your team to put their weapons back on the pelican and report back here."

"Understood, Admiral," Jerome saluted and returned to the pelican with the other two Spartans.

"Just fair warning ambassadors there are reporters at the bottom of the elevator," the Asari C-Sec officer pointed out when the Spartans returned and the seven people stepped into the elevator.

"The press is no concern to us," the V.D. representative brushed it off.

"May I ask a question?" the Asari asked.

"Depends on the question," the S.R. rep. said with a shrug.

"Why are you here with a fleet of this size?" the Asari gave the Sangheili a questioning look.

"That's for your Council to know, ma'am," Jerome answered.

"Okay," the officer said as the elevator ride continued in a tense silence.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart:** **Serpent Nebula…**

 **Location: Citadel council chambers…**

 **Date: 02/13/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 14:00 galactic standard time…**

Saying the councilors were nerves was an understatement as they watched the massive fleet of this 'Alliance of Unified Races' spread out and surround the Citadel in one massive gun line with the smaller Council fleet sitting in a defensive stance just outside the ward arms.

"By the spirits, that's the largest ship I've ever seen," Sparatus said in complete awe of the 30-kilometer long warship drifting lazily outside the window of the council meeting. The Counselors had gathered early to discuss a plan on what to do with these new developments of the sudden and not so subtle blockade of 200 massive warships on the Citadel, "how can anything that big be able to move on its own without element zero?"

"Well, their FTL works so much differently from ours that it's possible that they don't have the constraints that ezzo and the Mass Relays force upon us," Valern clarified tapping his chin in thought, "the true question is why does this 'Alliance of Unified Races' need a military on such a grand scale?"

"They could simply be throwing every warship that their empire has at us as a scare tactic to force us to comply with them," Sparatus theorized going through every scenario and battle plan with the A.U.R. for a way to win a potential war yet was unable to find a single workaround for the one fact, that they could pop up in any system they wish with no choke point restraints of the Mass Relays.

"I think the most important fact to hold up as a blessing from the Goddess, is that they can be talked to and reasoned with," Tevos spoke up for the first time in the conversation, "and unlike the Rachni or the Krogan, they seem to not want a war with us."

"Agreed, but they still hold caution to us if these ' _Spartans_ ' if I'm even saying that correctly, are anything to go by," Valern pulled up a bio-scan of the Spartan security with the three A.U.R. delegates.

"Councilors, the A.U.R. are waiting for you in the Council chamber," a Turian C-Sec officer pointed out as he walked into their private meeting room.

"Good, we will be right out, thank you," Tevos brushed her dress off and cleared her throat, _Goddess if you can hear me please let this end with peace._

 **XXXXXXXX**

The Councilors walked to their podiums with the grace of their rule, but that did nothing to hide the nervousness they held when they spotted the A.U.R. delegates. The chamber was packed full of reports and camera drones, all silent to record what was about to take place for the first time in centuries.

"Greetings, and let me be the first to welcome you all to the Citadel," Tevos greeted with a warm smile, "I am, Councilor Tevos of the Asari Republic."

"I am Councilor Sparatus of the Turian Hierarchy," Sparatus said, warily eyeing the A.U.R. delegation seeing the faces of warriors and soldiers not easily impressed by the diplomatic charade that Tevos was trying to pull off.

"I am Councilor Valern of the Salarian Union," Valern greeted in his usual stoic manner.

"I am Vice Admiral Cutter of the U.N.S.C. navy here on behalf of the Human race and the United Earth Government," the human stepped forward giving the Councilors a polite nod, "to my left is the representative for the Sangheili Republic, to my right is the representative for the Veiled Dominion, and the one next to the S.R. rep. is the representative for the Parlement of Unified Systems. We represent the four key governing bodies of the Alliance of Unified Races."

"Now that these formalities are out of the way, we ask why you've brought a fleet to our doorstep?" Sparatus asked crossing his arms.

"I'll be blunt and get to the point, the reason why we're here, is that we will be waging war against the Batarian Hegemony," Cutter clarified a stern glare now fixed on his face, "and if you do not agree to our terms and side with the Batarians I will be forced to seize control of this station with deadly force.'

The Councilors stood silently in astonishment at the way that the Admiral just bluntly put it while the reporters murmured to their cameras a couple of them being Batarian. "There must be a way to keep this from turning into a galactic war," Tevos turned physically pale at the thought of another Krogan Rebellion/ Rachni War happening because the Batarians went and messed with the wrong faction.

"That course of action was never on the table when they attacked one of our colonies killing thousands of our civilians and enslaving what was left in cold blood," the S.R. member stepped up, anger written on his face.

"He speaks the truth, we are warning you to stay well away from this conflict," Cutter spoke again in a commanding tone, "we do not plan to take this fight to any of your territories, only if you turn away from the Batarians. We only wish to take justice against this slaving race and liberate those they've enslaved under their thumb."

"And what do we get out of this?" Valern asked next.

"You will be allowed access to languages, trade routes, star charts, unclassified tech advancements, and the histories of our peoples which in turn we will keep an embassy on this station for easy communication between our A.U.R. and your Citadel Council," the V.D. rep. explained curtly, "we hope the same from you in this regard."

"This sounds acceptable," Valern voted in hopes of getting at the jump drive tech the A.U.R. use.

"I will comply with this but first I must know what you have planned for the Batarian Hegemony?" Tevos questioned.

"All we seek is to make an example out of them," the V.D. rep. said, "no civilian casualties of course if we can help it, but the liberation of the slaves they've captured out of all our races, and the destruction of their key military installations are our top priorities."

"That is good enough, my people will stay out of this war," Tevos agreed with a defeated sigh.

"I cannot accept this deal without knowing full well that you will be keeping to your word," Sparatus said stubbornly causing two of the Spartans to walk forward a step.

"Stand down," Cutter ordered the Spartans with a closed fist held at a 90-degree angle which made them stop and return to their formation, "what do you have in mind Councilor?"

"I want Citadel liaisons to accompany each unit of your fleet into this war," Sparatus replied.

"We can make that work," Cutter begrudgingly approved with a sigh, "There is one more matter that needs to be attended to."

"And what is that, Admiral?" Tevos asked.

"We need access to your borders to search for ancient Forerunner installations," Cutter replied.

"What is a Forerunner, and why would you be searching for them?" Tevos asked in a confused manner.

"They were an intergalactic empire that existed untolled millennia ago," Cutter clarified fully grabbing the attention/curiosity of the Councilors, "they placed seven massive super-weapons across the Galaxy to kill all organic life called Halo's and we need to find and disable them."

"Why were these things built in the first place?" Valern asked heavily concerned about the possible threat these 'Halos' represented, "and why can't we do it ourselves?"

"You mean you haven't heard of the parasite?" the P.U.S. rep. asked in slight shock.

"Parasite?" the three Councilors asked in unison.

"Isabel, show them the video," Cutter's tone turned grim as all three Spartans stepped forward stoically, their palms held upward with a glow before a large ten-foot wide holo-screen popped into existence. It showed the helmet cams of the Master Chief and multiple units of ODSTs, and Marines as they fought the mutilated corpses known as simply the Flood through the ruins of Africa.

"By the Goddess," Tevos dry heaved turning away with tears running down her face as the screams of the Flood, dead, and dying continued to echo on even after the video stopped.

"The Flood is a parasitic organism that can possess the dead and living to spread further and with each infection, they grow in knowledge and power," Cutter defined what was just depicted, "this is what a small outbreak did."

"So these weapons were a form of last resort against this… _Flood_?" Valern asked.

"Yes and all installations hold samples of this thing on them," Cutter stated.

"How did you survive then?" Sparatus asked.

"We destroyed half a continent with plasma fire," the S.R. rep. said.

"That's what it took?" Sparatus said in shock feeling like he was about to pass out.

"You will have what you need of us to make sure these weapons are disabled," Tevos spoke after consulting with her fellow Councilors.

The rest of the meeting was basically logistics on where and how trade routes and immigration would work between the two coalitions with the S.R., V.D., and P.U.S. while Cutter stepped back, his job done.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"Do you think these Flood beings were the ones to destroy the Protheans?" Tevos asked Valern, the images of the Flood unable to be shaken from her memory. Sparatus was off overseeing his liaison gathering from the best Specters that the Citadel could gather in such a short time frame, he had even implemented the best C-Sec officers in the Citadel's garrisons.

"Not possible, would have already wiped us out long before we achieved space flight if that was the case," Valern said shaking his head as he quickly skimmed over the histories of the new galactic contender, "they originate from the A.U.R. half of the Galaxy… supplies good buffer if any more Flood exists out in dark space, interesting side note, they control most of the traverse."

"But that portion of the Galaxy is impossible to police," Tevos argued.

"For us, yes but for them anything's possible," Valern said an amused smile on his face as he continued to read.

"Councilors, the Batarian ambassador is demanding access to the chamber, what do you want me to do?" one of the C-sec officers assigned to the Council guard asked from the radio in the wall closest to the door.

"Let him in," Tevos sighed.

"What is the meaning of this? You let those creatures declare war on my people," the Batarian yelled in anger as he entered the room.

"It is not our fault that your government decided to commit an act of war on them," Tevos said in disdain.

"But you are sending your own people in, to advise them in their war," the Batarian continued to vent.

"I'd hold your tongue Batarian, you are in no place to demand anything from us," Sparatus said calmly as he walked in behind the Batarian.

"We have been loyal to the Citadel for hundreds of years and you throw us under the bus like we're no more than things," the Batarian growled.

"I told you that you started a war you couldn't win," Sparatus said with a blank stare, "now you must make amends for your actions."

"You have not heard the last from us," the Batarian spat as he left the Council.

"We have just traded one ally for another," Tevos sighed

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Well, that's the chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it. The war begins next time as the U.N.S.C. launches it counter-campaign against the Batarians.**


	8. Chapter 8: Battle for Lorek

**You know, I'm actually kind of surprised you guys are complaining about the little trade deal between the A.U.R. and the C.C. We all know the U.N.S.C. does not give it's best info or tech to just anybody, and we all know that any military or intelligence agency worth their weight will always play two-faced in dealings between foreign powers.**

 **I think this quote fits what I'm trying to say perfectly** _ **"Offer with one hand, but arm the other."**_

 **Come on people I'm not that stupid.**

 **One last thing, to those guests coming to me with arguments and questions please get an account. It's free, and I can actually respond to you then, plus I know I can answer you here but it takes away from the story to answer you all in the beginning or end of the author's notes.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart:** **Serpent Nebula…**

 **Location: Citadel C-sec docking bay…**

 **Date: 13 February 2560…**

 **Time: 16:50 military standard time…**

"This place is kind of beautiful in its own strange alien way, kind of reminds me of the Razgriz Capital before the Covenant invasion all those years ago," Kei mused over her personal comlink with Leonidas, as she leaned on the railing of the C-Sec docking bay, the railing was surprisingly stable under her and her Intruder Spartan armor.

"Yeah," Leonidas sighed leaning with his back against the same railing Kei was to look at the former slaves being processed through one arch of the C-sec security post toward shuttles that are being sent to hospitals. While building equipment, pre-fabs, crates of supplies, Huragok, and a Company of Marines made up of all the key races of the A.U.R. went in another way toward the Presidium to start building the embassy, "except the civilians and soldiers are being loaded out of pelicans, rather than being loaded in, and we don't have a bunch of annoying cultist aliens shooting at us."

"True," Kei giggled looking over her shoulder at Leonidas, "so… how are you holding up? You haven't quite been you're usual gung-ho self lately."

"I've just had a lot of stuff on my mind is all," Leo chuckled looking back at her, his expression concealed behind his ODST Gen. II helmet and faceplate.

"Like what?"

"You know, this new war with another alien race. It's bringing back up memories I'd like to forget."

"I get it, you're not the only one, it's brought back demons most of us would like to keep buried," Kei turned to face Leonidas fully, "look at the bright side these _Batarians_ seem to be on the "easy" end of fighting."

"True," Leonidas chuckled, "then again we fought units that were unorganized in that last fight."

" _Hey, Blaze could you tell me exactly why we are on Pelican defense duty?"_ Martin asked over team comms, _"it just seems like a bit overkill to send Spartans to do what a squad of marines can pull off."_

"Scare factor," Kei responded for Leonidas, "to make sure they don't try to pull a fast one on us, right?"

"Well, if you were to think about it why do we have fleet wide comms on," Leonidas said watching the last of the small convoy of U.N.S.C. troops leave through the C-sec checkpoint, "I wouldn't doubt that Command is trying to hack into wireless systems using us as a placeholder until the embassy is up and running."

" _Aaaand that's why you're not squad lead,"_ Phoros, Fireteam Domino's CQC expert chuckled over squad comms.

" _Touche,"_ Martin commented back.

" _Alright Spartans we're packing up, get your asses onboard or you get the back seat to this war,"_ the pilot of Domino team's Pelican called over comms.

"You heard the lady let's go," Leonidas ordered making his way back to the Pelican with Kei on his heels.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart:** **Slipspace Nexus en route to Batarian controlled space…**

 **Location: aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire**_ **…**

 **Date: 14 February 2560…**

 **Time: 20:00 military standard time…**

Cutter currently sat in his private quarters looking over the reports on the Turian military that was handy on the Citadels extranet, marking them away as the first of the races to be dealt with to severely cripple the Citadel Council's military fire power if they turned out to be a threat to Humanity and the A.U.R., followed quickly by the Salarians to knock out the race supplying their tech advancements, and lastly the all too friendly and smug Asari would be the easiest to quell at least in space warfare without their allies backing them.

"How well did the trojan virus take to their systems?" Cutter asked as Isabel popped up on the holo-table at the other side of the ten foot by ten-foot room near the door.

The virus was unleashed as soon as the Citadel uploaded the heavily over exaggerated star charts which left out all key systems containing Forerunner or ancient human tech storage, research facilities, military installations, major production facilities, and capital planets. The star charts depicted that the A.U.R. from what they call the _Local Cluster_ which truthfully was uncomfortably close to U.E.G. space and stretched all the way out to _Pangaea Expanse_. This was put in place to make sure the A.U.R. had breathing room to expand their influence without stepping on the feet of the Citadel Council, as well as make the key systems that did fly the banner of the A.U.R. a logistical nightmare to find if armed conflict was to sprout up between the A.U.R. and the Citadel Council. Not to mention the tech schematics that were supplied to the Council was made up of low-grade U.E.G. civilian tech from the 2504s to make sure that their technological advancement never came close to what the A.U.R. had at its disposal. The virus also allowed any smart U.N.S.C. A.I. that had proper clearance access to all the Citadels systems directly under the nose of the V.I. and crew in place to prevent it happening by a backdoor written into the station's code during the info transfer.

"It went in undetected, and as of this moment I'm using the backdoor it forged to wirelessly take control of all the Citadel's systems through our embassies slipspace communications uplink," Isabel said with a smile on her virtual face before pausing for a split second as if going over the final details of something, "all key systems on the Citadel work for us now, Admiral."

"Good, make sure to keep under the radar. I don't want to make them suspicious of us more than they already are," Cutter ordered, "I've got too many unknowns as it is at the moment."

"I understand, Admiral," Isabel nodded, "I'll start sorting through and cataloging all the data, and controls I've been able to connect to."

"Good, when you're done send a copy of what you find to High Command, and O.N.I. brass," Cutter ordered, finishing his potential target planning on the Citadel Council and its allies sending it out to HIGHCOM through heavily encrypted channels.

"Affirmative," Isabel saluted and her virtual body disappeared from her pedestal.

"One more thing keep an eye on our new guests, I don't want them getting into anything they have no business in," Cutter called out before starting his debriefing to send to HIGHCOM over the event that had recently taken place not too long ago with the very first diplomatic meeting with the Citadel, and the successful upload of the Trojan Virus.

 **XXXXXXXX**

Jondum Bau worked his way through the massive labyrinth of a ship/marvel of engineering that the U.N.S.C. had allowed him and 50 other Spectres access to. Sadly the U.N.S.C. only gave them access to deck S-10 near the front of the vessel away from just about all key systems needed to run what the leviathan. From what Jondum speculated the ship was running on less than 25% its actual crew capacity before factoring in the multiple Dreadnoughts held in its cargo bays, which threw all the physics he knew out the window on how this thing could move at all.

From what Jondum could gather, the entire S deck consisted of 10 habitation blocks which could hold upwards of 2,500 people in each block. The main crew compartments consisted of 40 of these habitation blocks and all blocks could be individually launched like escape pods with their own nuclear power generators, cryo bays, ammunition storage, and food supplies in case of long amounts of time adrift in the void of space if the ship was to ever be destroyed. The reason the Spectres were put on the S deck was most likely because what the U.N.S.C. refer to as 'the Spartans' onboard used said deck for their personal living quarters which formed the perfect security measure against Jondum and the other Spectres.

The 'Spartans' or sometimes 'Demons' as they were called by the crew numbered in the thousands on this ship alone. Each Spartan from what Jondum interpreted held the raw strength, and brutality of an enraged Krogan while inside their battle plate, the speed of an Asari commando and the tactical mindset of a Turian Spectre as well, making them the deadliest units in any battlefield role they participated in.

 _We could learn so much from just the A.U.R. alone, then we could ever learn from every Prothean data cash in the known galaxy,_ Jondum thought in total awe as he continued to look around the new space he would be spending the majority of his time in while the A.U.R. weren't making active war zones in Batarian space.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Omega Nebula, Fathar System, Lorek** **…**

 **Location: aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Shadow of Intent**_ **…**

 **Date: 18 February 2560…**

 **Time: 20:00 military standard time…**

Rtas stood on his bridge looking over at the enemy combatants waiting just two A.U. out, staying well out of the Batarians effective weapons range. The majority of the Batarian defense fleet in this sector was made up of roughly 60 ships, 40% of the fleet consisted of multiple small corvettes and six frigates sized ship types using standard U.N.S.C. ship classing techniques to categorize them, sitting in the back of their defensive formation. Rtas looked over the scans of each ship that the _Shadow of Intent_ sensors were able to pull up, finding 60% of the fleet was made up of pirate vessels and civilian ships with coilguns crudely strapped to their hulls.

Rtas had only brought 40 ships to this engagement as to spread as much firepower as possible across the galactic north of Batarian controlled space and spread the enemy thin to the point that they couldn't make a strong defense against the main strike force heading for the Batarian Capital system without pulling units away from dealing with Rtas fleet. Oddly all the reports that the Fleetmaster was able to get from his other assault fleets was of barely habitable planets with badly malnourished slave labor making up the populations of said worlds. These planets, in turn, had little to no defense fleets to speak of defending them, making the hatred Rtas felt for the Batarian race even stronger. Most the aliens on these worlds were moved to biomes more suited for their natural habitability outside of environmental suits. Those that could not be moved were given emergency medical and food to ease their suffering but there was nothing more Rtas could do without spreading his supply lines way too thin to support the fleet's continued assault.

"Strange, they do not use any higher class ships," Rtas tapped his command throne with his four-fingered hand in thought for a second before physically stopping himself with his other hand, this was an irritating habit he had picked up on from his human crew, they refer to it as 'twiddling your thumbs' or something of that nature, "get me another sensor reading of this system."

"Yes, Fleetmaster," fleet officer Cuxi 'Remaai one of the few female Elites in Rtas' fleet acknowledged, and after three minutes, "nothing, all combat ships in system surround the target planet."

"Good," Rtas tapped a button on the left side of his throne causing a hologram of a Sangheili shipmaster to appear.

"Fleetmaster what are your orders?" the shipmaster asked crossing his arm over his chest in the Sangheili salute.

"Shipmaster 'Donam, take lead of 20 of our ships and engage the left flank of this pitiful excuse of a fleet, I'll lead the others to the other flank," Rtas ordered looking away from the hologram of 'Donam and back at the defending hostile fleet, a determined frown framing his heavily scarred face, "stay at maximum weapons range, and give them a quick death, it's more than they deserve."

"It will be done, Fleetmaster," 'Donam nodded as he disappeared from the hologram.

"Navigator, move us to grid coordinates X:56.34, Y:13.01, Z:150 in attack formation _Ragnarok_ , and launch all fighter wings," Rtas commanded, looking at his tactical terminal to see 40 blue blips marking his forces split into two smaller contingents of 20, both sub fleets forming spear tips as they took up assault positions on both ends of the enemy Batarian/ Pirate fleet, "lock targets and don't engage until the fighter wings make contact with the enemy ships."

Multiple smaller blips signifying squadrons of fighters and bombers moved out of the fleet quickly. The Batarian fleet responded with guardian defense guns and their own pitifully small fighter contingent to try and intercept the veteran pilots.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"This is Wolfpack 1 to Wolfpack Actual, my unit is entering weapons range of the enemy formation now, hail copy," Wolfpack 1 called over long range comms, as he primed the explosive payload of his GA-TL1 Longsword C714, a heavily modified version of the C172 with shield systems and twin fuel rod cannons in place of the standard missiles to tear through enemy capital ships, a payload of nuclear armaments if the fuel rods didn't cut it in firepower and twin plasma cannons for fighter on fighter engagements.

" _This is Wolfpack Actual to Wolfpack 1, you are free to engage your priority target at your discretion,"_ Wolfpack Actual replied back.

"Copy that, Wolfpack 2 through 10 follow me and start the attack run on the target, Wolfpack 11 through 20 cover our backs, engage in 3… 2… 1..." Wolfpack 1 nodded to his weapons operator, who had a target locked onto one of the ships, signaling him to fire his fuel rod cannons at the warship, "weapons free."

About 20 fuel rod beams streamed toward the enemy ship that pitifully attempted to fire on the energy based weapons and at the fighters quickly closing in on it. The point defense guns went harmlessly through the energy-based projectiles, but the defense guns that hit Wolfpack, hit hard causing 3 longswords to explode and three others to lose their shields under the heavy point defense fire. The fuel rod projectiles smacked into the helpless warship with plasma explosions disabling the main spinal mounted coil-gun system relied upon by the Batarian warship, for a capital ship to capital ship fight.

"Wolfpack Actual the target's main weapon is disabled, I repeat its main gun is disabled," Wolfpack 1 called over comms as he banked left catching a glimpse of the fleet opening fire with plasma lances, MAC shells, and missiles on the reeling Batarian defense fleet, "Wolfpack, evasive maneuvers."

" _Copy that Wolfpack 1, proceed to secondary target locations,"_ Wolfpack Actual responded back.

"Roger that Wolfpack Actual," Wolfpack 1 said jinking right to dodge another point defense shot, "Wolfpack regroup we're moving in toward target Beta, hail copy."

" _This is Wolfpack 6, I've got three bogies nipping at my tail I need assistance,"_ Wolfpack 6 called over comms.

"Copy that circling around to you," Wolfpack 1 informed Wolfpack 6, as he turned around firing his plasma cannons at the three intercepting Batarian fighters.

Wolfpack 1 was able to cut down the first one with a massive explosion as the fighter smashed into the strategically dead warship. The other two jinked out of the way of the plasma bolts quickly being taken out by Wolfpack 11 and Wolfpack 20 with sweeping arcs of plasma bolts.

" _Wolfpack 1, this is Wolfpack Actual sending new orders, disengage from the secondary target and focus fire on crippling pirate vessels, hail copy?"_ Wolfpack Actual ordered.

"Copy that, moving to interse-" Wolfpack 1 was cut off and destroyed by the point defense weapons of the Batarians after rotating toward the closest pirate ship.

 **XXXXXXXX**

Rtas watched as each plasma lance from the _Shadow of Intent_ cut three frigate-class ships and two pirate vessels in half with single bursts, six more pirates were cut down by plasma torpedoes and 10 more pirate ships were sent drifting into the planet by MAC shells to be burned up in the planet's atmosphere.

"Fleetmaster, the pirate contingent is pulling away from their defensive formation and are attempting to leave the battle," Cuxi called from her post.

"Finish them, I don't want a single ship to leave this system," Rtas ordered calmly as he stood up to pace around the Bridge and check on his crew.

"Fleetmaster our fighters are being torn apart by the Batarian fleet point defense guns," Jag 'Vadum called out from his spot at fighter control.

"How many have we lost?" Rtas asked as he looked over Jag's shoulder.

"15 full wings Fleetmaster, actually make that 16," Jag informed looking back over his shoulder at Rtas, "what are your orders?"

"Order our remaining fighter wings to pull away from the Batarian military fleet and destroy the thrusters on the pirate contingent," Rtas told Jag as he continued pacing his bridge, half listening to the chatter of bridge personnel as they operated the weapon systems, ran communication for fighter wings or communicated to other warships in the local fleet.

When Rtas sat back down on his throne, looking back at his tactical display he saw the blips representing the fighter wings disengage from the actual Batarian military presence to chase down the retreating pirates. This put a small smile on Rtas scarred face as the multiple fighter craft threw the Batarian/pirate fleet into complete disarray. It only took three more hours to finish clearing the Batarian forces from the system with heavy MAC round shots and Rtas energy projectors at max ranges completely obliterating the defenseless Batarian/pirate fleet, while the fighters harassed them enough to keep the Batarians in one spot. The only casualties that were inflicted to Rtas fleet was that of 35% of the fighter wings deployed caused by the surprisingly effective point defense guns of the actual Batarian navy ships. Thankfully the pirates weren't armed to the same extent that the actual military vessels were or it would have racked up 60% or higher KIA for the fighter complement.

"Move us into a locked orbit of the main colony world, and mobilize our warriors," Rtas ordered, looking over the planet's geography taken from system-wide scans, "I want them ready for combat drop in 10 minutes."

"As you wish, Fleetmaster," Cuxi replied, crossing her arm over her chest in the Sangheili salute.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **That's chapter I hoped you all liked it. I was going to make the fleet battle last a little while longer but as stated, Rtas fleet basically peppered them at max range until there was nothing left while the fighter made a distraction to keep the Batarians stuck in orbit of Lorek. I just want it to be said that I did attempt to write more of the space battle but it started to feel really repetitive with, "Rtas and his forces cutting through starship #1 - #5 with energy projectors," and so on. I did try to incorporate key elements I wanted to elaborate on, as well as giving a brief view of combat from the fighter perspective because I personally like that part of this chapter. I'm still experimenting with the space combat portion of this story for when I eventually have to bring in the Reapers but I hope to refine my skills before I have to do that.**

 **I'll see you guys back here when we get boots on the ground have a nice day.**


	9. Chapter 9: Battle for Lorek II

**I'm sorry this took so long I've just graduated from high school two weeks ago and I'm currently trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my life from this point forward.**

 **By the way, I have a poll up on my page about an Election for the U.E.G. leadership put into three separate categories (good, neutral and bad) this vote will determine the fate of the A.U.R. going forward but the twist is you won't know who will be the good, bad or neutral.**

 **I also have one more poll open dealing with if you want to know where the hell John-117 is during the events leading up to our current timeline of 2560. I hope you guys participate, this is one of the only ways I can get you guys more involved with the stories actions without actually stepping into making a roleplay group for this.**

 **I hope you guys like this chapter.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Dark Space, Installation 00…**

 **Location: Capitol City 2 miles Southeast From the Ark's Control Room** _ **…**_

 **Date: 18 February 2560…**

 **Time: 14:10 military standard time…**

"To the people of the Alliance of Unified Races as of June 11, 0700 standard time, we were attacked on our southern border in SR territory, leading to the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of innocent civilians and military personnel that were protecting the system," April Orenski stated to the mob of reporters from the podium just outside of the main Capitol building, flanked on either side by heavily armed guards, to her left three Sangheili and three Kig-Yar, to her right three humans and three Unggoy, all wearing dark grey and black urban camo armor.

The A.U.R. board of representatives had called a State of the Union address to inform the citizens about the war and about what lurked beyond their relatively small corner of space compared to the massive expanse of the Citadel Council races. Since it was Orenski's idea she was voted in as the speaker and most likely to soak up all the political backlash from the event.

"Is this attack made by the C.F.C.S. and if so does this make it an act of war?" Jack from Humanity First News asked.

"No, this was not instigated by the C.F.C.S." Orenski denied, "this is a new species of many that we now know of that are located across the Galaxy. The race that attacked us was that of what we know now as the Batarians."

"What kind of military action is being taken against this new threat?" Joshua of the New Edin Times asked from the crowd.

"Two full War Congregations have been mobilized to launch a counter campaign against this hostile governing body along with all of our reserve fleet Congregations being filed back into active wartime service filling in the defense," Orenski explained, "this operation has been dubbed _The Skyllian Blitz_."

"What about these other races, are they of a hostile nature to us?" Jack asked without being called on.

"No, the Citadel Council is staying out of this conflict as of this time and countermeasures are being put in place to make sure we have the upper hand in case of open conflict," Orenski answered as another reporter raised their hand, "yes?"

"Do you think this event will be problematic for your spot at reelection?" Jenna from Galactic News Now asked.

"I do not care for my reelection as of this time," Orenski denied with anger emanating from her voice as she gave a stern look to the camera, "all I care about at the moment is securing our borders."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Omega Nebula, Fathar System, Lorek** **…**

 **Location: Ground Command HQ…**

 **Date: 02/20/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 6:00 p.m. galactic standard time…**

"General Rask, the tasks you've assigned to my unit have been completed," lieutenant Sarvan reported as he stepped into the general's field bunker.

The room was relatively sparse with a few terminals located across the 20 foot long by 20-foot wide room as wells as a table with a hologram emitter in the center. A small quarian female sat in one corner at the very end of the room working on one of the monitors. The suit rat was one of Rask's most trusted pets. She earned her master's respect quickly in the ten years that the suit rat has been under Rask's iron grip.

Sarvan's orders were to turn every single building in the local towns and cities three miles around Rask's HQ into giant traps to delay the invasion force of this so-called 'Alliance of Unified Races' to hopefully destroy their morale. Other units of the Batarian PDF were busy forcing the slaves to dig trenches around the Batarian base in a two-mile diameter defensive network using their biotics and shovels to do so.

"Good, I want you leading the defense of the northern trench networks," Rask ordered barely paying Sarvan any mind as he looked over data of the planet in confusion of not finding a single enemy yet, _why haven't we seen them land yet? All that's coming planetside is debris from the fleet battle._

"Sir," Sarvan saluted, turning and leaving.

"Suit rat, how's my bunker barrier system coming along?" Rask demanded as he continued to look at the holo-map of the continent, "I paid good credit for you, so I expect results or I'll show my men first hand what you look like underneath that mask."

"It would be a lot easier if I had proper materials to work with, master," the Quarian stated barely able to hold back her condescending tone, as she tweaked the shield code ever so slightly to make sure it overloads the first second it's activated, yet make the error undetectable to the organic eye, "but it will be done soon."

"It better be," Rask growled as he looked at the door to find another officer standing there, "what is it?"

"Scout drones have picked up heat signatures coming in from orbit," the officer said standing at attention.

"How large?" Rask asked standing fully to his feet.

"None are larger than the debris that's been falling from orbit."

"Then why tell me?"

"They are falling in a formation and doing course corrections as they fall."

"What's the formation pattern?"

"It's encircling the outer trench defensive line."

"Tell all units to report to battle stations now and sound the alarm!" Rask ordered as he slammed his fist into the table.

"I'm on it," the officer ran out of the office.

"Suit rat, get my shield online now!" Rask yelled grabbing his shotgun off the desk, before flipping it for a makeshift cover between him and the door.

 **XXXXXXXX**

Josassvi collapsed onto her side in the mud of the nearly complete Batarian trench network out of exhaustion due to the server labor of her _masters_. Josassvi is one of the many Asari that was put into forced labor by the Batarians after their annexation. At the time she was just a young girl of the age of 99 galactic years and was about to leave to see the galaxy when her life turned into a living hell.

"Josa, please get up," Josassvi's partner Ranryu pleaded, as she tried picking Josassvi off the ground.

"I can't go on," Josassvi cried as she looked up at the burning sky above filled with destroyed starships burning up further in the planetary atmosphere.

"What is going on here?" a Batarian soldier demanded as he patrolled the trench," get back to work!"

"We're trying but we need food," Ranryu pleaded, earning a slap to the face by the armored hand of the Batarian.

"Get. Back. To. WORK!" the Batarian threatened, leveling his firearm at Ranryu, causing her to flinch.

"Ran... look," Josassvi said pointing to the burning sky weakly.

"Josa, you have to get up," Ranryu pleaded again this time crying before following her finger to the sky.

"What the hell are you looking at?" the Batarian soldier asked as he looked up at the sky to see multiple purple cylinders crash across the trench line. The Batarian turned his rifle away from the two Asari, toward a cylinder that landed 10 feet away from him. The Batarian slowly walked toward it rifle shaking in his grip. The soldier got to within maybe five feet of it before a hatch blew out of it. The 'hatch' hit the Batarian head-on, casting him into the mud most likely giving him a severe concussion from the impact. Inside the now open cylinder stepped an eight-foot-tall reptilian creature in forest green battle plate with a strange stick in one of its four-fingered hands and the other carried some sort of sidearm, emitting blue sparks from the end of it.

"Can you both walk?" the creature asked though it's translator in an authoritative tone, looking down on the two Asari as it stepped out of the pod's confines.

"We can but there is nowhere to go," Ranryu said, looking up at the alien with fear and panic written on her features, "our inhibitors prevent us from leaving."

The alien was angered to hear this as it turned its attention down towards the Batarian soldier as he scrambled back to his feet and leveled his rifle at it. "Die!" the Batarian soldier screamed as he opened fire on the alien, all the rounds bouncing off the creatures personal shield as it advanced toward the Batarian the stick in hand. The alien pressed a button on the stick causing two glowing light blue blades to appear from it with cracks of electricity springing between the blade edges. The alien roared as it stabbed the Batarian soldier through the chest while lifting him up off the ground a good four feet before letting the now dead Batarian body drop.

"This is lance leader Tos, to all units we have slaves in the trenches, watch your fire," the alien called out over what the Asari believed to be its comms, before looking back at them, "stay right here and keep your heads down, support will be down shortly to deactivate those inhibitors."

"Are you from the Council?" Josassvi asked weakly from her spot on the ground.

"No, we are not connected to those spineless fools," Tos said with malice emanating from its voice.

 **XXXXXXXX**

Sarvan ran through the trench toward the sound of weapons fire as bright blue and green explosions range across the trench network finding two soldiers limping down the trench network. "Soldiers, what the hell is going on?" Sarvan demanded as another explosion rang out.

"They're here," one said missing his arm and being held up by the other. The wounded soldier's arm was cauterized and it looked as if the metal of his armor was fused to his skin, luckily cutting off the blood flow so he didn't bleed out.

"How?" Sarvan asked as the non wounded soldier set the wounded one to the side, "we've had no reports of landing craft of any kind."

"They landed on top of us in some kind of single manned pods, sir," the non wounded soldier explained fear written on his face, "the entire outer trench network has been overrun."

"Then you're coming with me we're going to rally point bravo," Sarvan ordered flipping the safety off his rifle.

"But my son," the Batarian soldier begged before being cut off by Sarvan.

"I don't give a pyjak's shit about your miserable welp," Sarvan growled leveling his rifle at the wounded soldier who attempted to plead 'no' as Sarvan pulled the trigger, sending grey matter and blood across the mud, him and the now dead soldier's father, "you should have let him die by the enemy, at least then he would have had some honor to his name."

The Batarian soldier stared blankly at his son's corpse, his expression of total shock obscured by the helmet he wore. "Let's go, you can always make another after the war is won," Sarvan said walking passed the grieving father.

"Yes, sir," the soldier said holding back tears.

Sarvan continued running down the trench line gathering fleeing soldiers along the way picking up half a platoons worth before he reached his destination at rally point bravo. "We hold here, no one gets through!" Sarvan yelled at his assembled soldiers as they spread out across the trench line, "for the HEGEMONY!"

It was calm and unnatural for a good ten seconds as the Batarian defenders watched over the lines of fire in the no man's land. There were no mortar shells, no troops moving, not even the slightest sign that there were life forms on the other side of the trench network. _What happened? It's too quiet_ , Sarvan thought to himself tightening his grip on the rifle.

"Sir, up there!" one of Sarvan's men yelled out as a large structure landed just the other side of the trench. It was large and purple with curved armor covering it. As the Batarians were about to drop their guards slightly thinking it might just be debris the thing sprouted four bug-like legs uncovering a strange looking head and a top cannon. As it stood the whole other side of the trench came to life as the invaders popped out charging with energy shields in a phalanx. The Batarians opened fire on the massing infantry forgetting about the massive walker in front of them, killing several dozens before the invaders retreated back to their trench.

"We can hold!" Sarvan yelled in victory before noticing the walker's face light up with green lightning, "damn-" Sarvan was cut off as the plasma projector washed over the trench line disintegrating and melting the meat off the bones of the soldiers defending it in one clean sweep of green plasma fire.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Omega Nebula, Fathar System, Lorek** **…**

 **Location: Batarian Defence Network/ Drop Zone Alpha…**

 **Date: 21 February 2560…**

 **Time: 2:11 military standard time…**

Rtas stood planetside overseeing the Asari, Turian, Quarian, Salarian and Batarian slaves funnel through medical tents to get their inhibitor systems removed. Rtas' army is also currently sieging the Batarian planetary military across several fronts. Most of these battles were short-lived with how effective Rtas' armament was compared to the relatively inept tech of the Batarian military.

"Fleetmaster," Rtas' ground commander, Tyko if Rtas remembered correctly, "it's been too long since we served on the same battlefield."

"Agreed," Rtas nodded to Tyko, "how is your family doing?"

"They are well," Tyko responded in a serious tone.

"How is the siege going?"

"Rather well," Tyko said turning to the plasma explosions in the distance, "I think the humans state it best 'shooting fish in a barrel' if I'm using that term correctly?"

"The humans do have an oddly creative way with words."

"Indeed… Fleetmaster what brings you planetside, if I may ask?"

"I wanted to see how these upstarts fight on the ground."

"To tell you the honest truth, they put up, very little fight during the alpha strike, it's almost as if they never fought a foe in proper combat in their existence."

"What's the casualty rate?"

"Minimal, every ten they lose we lose two at most. The Humans put up a better fight during the Great War then these Batarians have so far during this planetary invasion."

"What of the civilians and slaves?"

"We are surprisingly accepted by the population."

"Good," Rtas turned his attention to the beachhead spotting a Fantom dropship land.

Most military equipment from the Great War was still in active service, yet R&D was well underway making newer much more advanced equipment to replace the frankly outdated weapons and other sorts of equipment to hopefully outmatch C.F.C.S. in advanced firepower since the A.U.R. and C.F.C.S. were in a cold war scenario with one side trying to reverse engineer Forerunner tech making inadequate, borderline inferior copies while presenting it as top of the line, while the other spliced Forerunner tech with its own to make high powered tools of war.

"When will the Army get here?" Tyko said.

"Another two days," Rtas stated, "mostly humans this time around."

"Of course," Tyko frowned.

"Do not fret, it's only a relief force so we can continue to our next target," Rtas informed as another large explosion sounded in the distance this time coming from the Batarian artillery that was still standing.

"What is the next target?" Tyko asked in confusion.

"The Batarian home system," Rtas said.

"I thought the Humans would claim the system since they are closer to the eastern front after talking to this Citadel Council?"

"Well Commander, Vice Admiral Cutter has asked for assistance," Rtas explained, "I can't blame the human, turns out most if not all the Batarian military fleets are held in their home system."

"I don't know anything about commanding a fleet, but 400 ships won't be enough if their fleets were anything like the one that hit us the first time," Tyko signaled his comm, "yes?... understood… then deploy a scarab to the right flank if you need to but I want that artillery taken out."

"That is true, we are bringing in three reserve War Congregations for assistance as well."

"1000 ships that's one fourth our fleet power."

"Yes, and it will be needed, now I must get back to the fleet, I hope your siege comes through like the humans say 'good hunting'."

"Understood Fleetmaster have a nice flight," Tyko gave the Sangheili salute as Rtas walked to the landed Fantom dropship.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **The reserve War Congregations are mainly for Capital Planet and Halo Installation defense, but they also act as reinforcements for other War Congregations out in the field. They are made up the exact same way that the main forces.**

 **1\. DAWN: defending the Kig-Yar homeworld of Eayn, led by Admiral Yen-Kath (Kig-Yar) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **Geisha.**_

 **2\. GUARDIAN: defending the Sangheili homeworld of Sanghelios, led by N'thavo 'Vadum (Sangheili) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **New Beginnings.**_

 **3\. ONYX: defending the Onyx Shield World, led by Mrito 'Savum onboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Wyvern.**_

 **4\. DEFIANCE: defending Earth, led by Admiral Keelty (human) onboard the Infinity class Supercarrier U.N.S.C.** _ **New Mombasa.**_

 **5\. REVALUATION: defending Installation 05, led by Admiral Krucas (human) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **End of an Age.**_

 **6\. RENEGADE: defending the Unggoy homeworld of Balaho, Admiral Kulkak (Unggoy) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **Primordial.**_

 **7\. DEMON: defending Installation 04 2.0, led by Admiral Jaxon (human) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **Light of Autumn.**_

 **8\. VANQUISHER: held as reserve in the docks of Reach, led by Admiral Jonathan onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **From the Ashes.**_

 **9\. TEMPEST: defending the Veiled Dominion Capital World of Heaven's Fall, Admiral Rone 'Losov (Sangheili) onboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Defiance.**_

 **10\. SIGMA: defending Installation 00, led by Admiral Tolkien (human) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C.** _ **Tower.**_


	10. Chapter 10: Battle for Lorek III

**Hey guys and gals welcome back to the war. As a notice to you all, I will be keeping the Election poll open until the end of this "First Contact/ AUR show of force" arc so please vote on who you would all like to see win it because your vote could cause something to go haywire and make things fun.**

 **On a second note, I will be writing a side story that will run parallel to this one that has to do with where John-117 is during the events of our current timeline, but the story will not be started until this arc is over. I'm planning on making it roughly 5-6 chapters depending on if the UEG turns good, bad or neutral.**

 **Now, enough of my jabbering let's see how things are turning out on Lorek.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Omega Nebula, Fathar System, Lorek** **…**

 **Location: Batarian Defence Network/ Drop Zone Alpha…**

 **Date: 21 February 2560…**

 **Time: 06:00 military standard time…**

Tyko stood with his troops on the front line overlooking the last stretch of no man's land between them and the main HQ of the planetary defenders. They had been there for three hours now testing the defensive line, finding the last line of defense between the trench line and the main complex heavily defended with multiple gun nests, low to medium grade artillery sometimes tank squadrons scattered about the line.

The reason why Tyko and his forces were holding back for the first time this engagement of the war, was because of how coordinated the Batarians seemed to be, the same could be said across all combat fronts across the planet. They also had a force of strange individuals with some sort of blue barrier power which seemed to be their only defense against plasma weapons. This is not factoring in the event of losing one of his three scarabs to a lucky tank shot. This forced the right flank to retreat back to the cover of the trench network or be blown up with it as it went supernova, killing several hundred of his soldiers and the Batarian armored squadron that took it out. The destruction of the right flank forced Tyko to withdraw the rest of his forces so he didn't get flanked by a Batarian counter attack. If Tyko had to wager, the Batarians had most likely gotten over the initial shock of the alpha strike and had set up everything they had in their arsenal, in hopes of having a chance to stop Tyko's blitzkrieg through their HQ.

"Sir we have news from orbit," one of Tyko's lieutenants, Cyr 'Mutum came up to Tyko, "the army divisions are ready to drop on your command all they need is a landing zone."

This made Tyko clench his fists in anger unwilling to let the humans take the credit for taking the fortress he has worked so hard on cracking, "tell them the landing zone isn't secure yet."

"Yes, sir," Cyr saluted, walking back the way he came.

"All wraith and scarab units open fire on the Batarian defensive line with everything your power cells have," Tyko ordered over comms, receiving multiple responses in the form of hundreds arcing plasma shots and plasma projector lances firing on the Batarian defensive line in massive waves of blue and green fire. After an hour of constant plasma fire, Tyko ordered the wraiths and scarabs to hold fire on their targets. The smoke was thick on the other end of the no man's land yet there was no sign of movement from any surviving soldiers.

"All armored forces push up and take that trench," Tyko ordered over comms, his response was that of all vehicles pushing out at a slow crawl mindful of a possible minefield.

" _Sir, this is scarab Fallen Arrow the Batarian trench is completely glassed,"_ Tyko heard over comms.

"Good, are there any survivors?" Tyko asked as he walked out of the trench and across no man's land flanked by his personal guards, followed by the rest of the infantry forces under his command, "all infantry follow the armored line, use them as cover."

"No, sir," the scarab pilot said with joy in his tone, "all contact either eliminated or retreated into the main complex."

"Understood," Tyko nodded his head in relief, "do not fire on the complex we'll need to engage it with infantry there might still be slaves in there."

" _Copy, holding fire,"_ the pilot responded slowing his scarab to a halt, signaling for the rest of the armored line to hold its position.

 _Their General is mine,_ Tyko thought to himself, igniting his energy sword in one hand as he primed his plasma rifle in the other, "all infantry engage the main complex!"

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Omega Nebula, Fathar System, Lorek** **…**

 **Location: Drop Zone Alpha…**

 **Date: 02/21/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 6:00 p.m. galactic standard time…**

"Uh…" Jossavi sat upholding her throbbing head awaking to find herself in a large fabric tent with all four walls lined up with beds and cots with the sick and injured laying on them. Most were slaves some she knew and some she only saw from a distance, but there were other aliens there as well strange things she had never seen before in her life most of them were wounded but there were others walking around in white coats or body armor speaking with the wounded, "where am I?"

"Your safe now ma'am, but we will need to keep you here until the siege is over," an Asari looking creature with brown skin and black hair pulled back in a messy bun as if she'd been working all night, said as she walked up to her, holding a datapad, "I am Dr. Warren of the U.N.S.C. assigned to help you today, now since you are awake I'm going to need to ask you some questions."

"Okay?"

"Don't worry it is just some routine questioning so we can file away your medical paperwork, I'm not going to ask you, your life story."

"I understand."

"What's your name? Full name please."

"Jossavi Daliza."

"Okay, Ms. Daliza, how old are you?"

"457 years."

"How long have you been a slave on this planet?"

"358 years, Doctor."

"I see… now I'm going to ask you something personal but it's for your own well being, is that okay?"

"Yes."

"While we were running you through some of our medical scans, we found that you are pregnant. How long do you think you have been pregnant for? Please answer honestly so we can get you and your bundle of joy proper care."

"Roughly a month."

"Okay, that should wrap this up nicely," the Doctor finished typing out on her datapad, "you stay still and get some rest, I'll get one of the cooks to bring you something to eat."

"Thank you for your kindness," Jossavi smiled feeling her stomach clench in hunger.

"There's no need to thank us," Dr. Warren chuckled, "we're only doing what any rational governing body would do to these barbarians."

"Dr. Warren, Dr. Chakwas requests your help with a wounded soldier in medical tent 4," a Sangheili soldier walked over to Jossavi and Dr. Warren.

"Thank you for informing me, lieutenant, could you please get this girl some food rations before you head back to your post?" Dr. Warren question with a well hidden forced smile.

"I'll see what I can do," the Sangheili nodded to Dr. Warren and Jossavi, before turning to take care of his duties. Dr. Warren watched as the Sangheili left the tent before turning her attention back to Jossavi.

"What is that about?" Jossavi asked after watching the event.

"Summer fling gone wrong that's all," Dr. Warren sighed, "sorry I'll have to cut our conversation short, there is no rest for the wicked."

"Wait, there's something I need to ask," Jossavi said.

"What is it?" Dr. Warren asked raising an eyebrow.

"Was there anyone with me when I was brought in from the trenches?" Jossavi asked in fear, "another Asari?"

"Yes, your companion was brought in with you a few hours ago," Dr. Warren said after looking at a report on her datapad.

"Where is she?" Jossavi asked.

"She volunteered to help clear out the last pockets of resistance in the trench network as well as about 30 other freed slaves," Dr. Warren responded, "now I must be going, there is no rest for the weary."

 **XXXXXXXX**

Sergeant Rey Bodcegan set up with what remained of his squad outside the only entrance of the HQ building with complete horror written on their faces after watching the sear amount of fire raining down on top of the last portion of the trench line. Rey and his squad were pulled back from the front line where they stopped the invasion in its tracks to get some much-needed sleep, but as soon as they got away from the trench the firebombing began killing half his squad in the process with a few stray rounds.

"That's it we're dead we lost," Cathor, Rey's corporal said in a shaky voice as he fell to his knees, "what hope do we have of winning? The Hegemony and the Council have abandoned us to die."

"That's not true we were told that we were winning the war," Rey tried to defend his governing body.

"THEY WERE LYING TO US!" Cathor yelled at his leader breaking down completely, "those things just destroyed 4 Divisions within the span of 12 hours, WE HAVE LOST BUT YOU'RE JUST TOO DELUSIONAL TO SEE THE FACTS!"

Rey was taken aback by Cathor's view on the events, unable to come up with a clear argument to retort with, "so you just want to give up?"

"Yes, I do, it's the safest bet for continued survival."

"But we'll be branded as traitors!"

"Then we join the invaders if they will take us."

"They won't take us, they'll just kill us."

"That's not true, I've seen it, anyone who surrenders isn't killed," Cathor stated anger written in his four eyes.

"Your underlying is right," a deep angry voice called out from behind Rey causing him to stiffen up in fear, "lay down your arms and you will live."

Rey slowly turned around finding several 7-foot tall reptiles in somewhat ordinate forest green armor standing before them weapons trained on them for a killing blow. The lead one holding some kind of blue painted sidearm emitting blue sparks out of what he guessed was the front in one hand and an energy blade in the other. The other nine were equipped with purple carbines seeming to be a guard to the lead one.

"I won't surrender," one of Rey's troops that he couldn't remember if his life depended on it, defied with the sound of a weapon being pulled, causing the nine guards to all aim at him firing green rounds at their target until the soldier hit the ground.

"I surrender," Rey said dropping his rifle and raising his hands above his head feeling guilt and disgust at himself for giving in so easily, "everyone, drop your weapons, we're surrendering."

It took a good half minute before anyone else did the same and through their weapons to the ground and raised their hands to surrender. After that, they were quickly detained and set next to the wreckage of a melted tank.

"Where is your commanding officer?" the lead invader asked Rey.

"Sub level C-5 of the bunker over there," Rey said looking at the main HQ complex.

"Good, maybe your race isn't completely degenerate after all," the invasion leader said walking away from them leaving three of his guard there to watch Rey and his squad.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"Nononononono!" General Rask panicked as he watched the video feed of his base as the last of his soldiers either were cut down or surrendered to the enemy, "this is impossible, this is one of our most defended systems yet their cutting through us like insects."

As Rask was panicking, Sisa'Gal vas Jureh watched the monitors with a smile written on her face at the way the invaders steamrolled through the Batarian defenders, quickly making their way to the command bunker where Rask was. Outside the door, there were 20 guards desperately trying to keep their defenses up but the noise from the other side told that it wasn't going to last much longer.

"It sounds like your time's up, _General_ ," Sisa'Gal laughed as the sound from the other side of the door stopped.

"How dare you," Rask growled grabbing Sisa'Gal by the throat as rage filling his being.

"Let the slave go," a deep rumbling voice sounded from behind Rask. Rask turned around putting Sisa'Gal between him and their new guest, grabbing his sidearm and aiming at Sisa'Gal's head.

"Don't come any closer or I'll shoot!" Rask threatened, pressing the weapon barrel fully against her head.

"I thought your race had more honor than that," the large soldier growled, "I am Field Marshal Tyko Vadum, let her go and live."

"Or?" Rask asked finger firmly on the trigger keeping his focus on Tyko as Sisa'Gal started to ready her Omni-tool to send an electrical blast at Rask.

"Or I'll be forced to send you to your god," Tyko warned, easily spotting what the Quarian was doing and moved to the left causing Rask to turn both himself and Sisa'Gal to be in the way of Tyko.

"Never," Rask said starting to flex his trigger finger.

"You don't have a choice," Sisa'Gal said slamming her Omni-tool against Rask's side, forcing him to let her go with a sharp jolt of pain.

"You damn suit rat I will kill you," Rask said aiming his sidearm at Sisa'Gal but before he could pull the trigger Tyko stepped in between them and with one fast motion impaled the Batarian General through the abdomen with a two-pronged energy blade.

"Are you okay ma'am?" Tyko asked disabling the energy sword and letting Rask's body fall to the ground.

"Yes thank you," Sisa'Gal said watching Tyko's sword with curiosity.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart:** **Serpent Nebula…**

 **Location: Citadel Presidium…**

 **Date: 02/21/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 8:00 p.m. galactic standard time…**

Sparatus watched out the window of the Presidium Turian embassy at the ugly cluster of structures built just across the lake from it. The AUR embassy resembled more of a military outpost with a full company of soldiers than anything spectacular, with armed checkpoints and sentry crowd control guns dotted across it. The AUR didn't even allow the keepers to roam around their compound saying that 'they were potential security threats', even going so far as to shoot any that had managed to get past the perimeter guards and into the embassy.

The worst part about the construction of the AUR embassy was that of multiple protests from the Volus, Hanar, and Elcor for their perceived discrimination and bias against them and all other minor races on the Citadel, not to mention they even threatened to leave the Citadel and turn their alliances to the AUR instead because they would give a better deal to them, then that the Citadel Council could for their services. There were also rioting in the wards caused by the Batarians that lived there because of the 'abandonment of their race' by the Council, costing millions of credits in damages across the wards and even an attempt to storm the Presidium itself. Thankfully the AUR assisted with the defense because of the mutual threat to the station. From C-sec reports the key leader of these riots was the Batarian ambassador himself demanding the removal of the AUR from the Citadel but all officers assigned to bring him in have been stumped when to finding his whereabouts

"This is such a mess," Sparatus growled rubbing his temples with his talons.

"Yes, it is," the Turian ambassador said as he scrolled through his Omni-tool reading up on AUR diplomacy so he knew what he would be facing in the future, "but it's not you or the other Councillors faults."

"True," Sparatus sighed, "but we are the ones that are receiving most if not all the blame for this."

"If you were to look back at our history, the Batarians have always been brash when it came to expansion. Not to mention, if the AUR didn't do it for the attempted annexation of one of their planets, like they did to Esan, then Hierarchy would have taken action itself against the Batarians to stop their reckless disregard for the borders of other empires," the Turian ambassador stated folding his talons in a steeple on his desk, "the Batarian war was never a matter of if but when they would reach too far and start a war and there was nothing you and the Council could do to stop it."

"This AUR feels the same way, especially the Human race. The history of their upbringing to the stars mirrors ours, all of ours in such a way that scares me, that doesn't even matter with the fact that in most ways they are more heavily advanced."

"That is unmistakably true," Tevos said walking into the room, "they are a threat but what if we bring them into the fold?"

"I will not allow it!" Spartus growled, "they already strong-armed us into giving them an embassy and look where that put us giving them more power will only make us lose more of our credibility as leaders of this galaxy."

"Then what do you propose we do then?" Tevos asked crossing her arms in frustration.

"The Hierarchy and the Union wants access to more of their tech after coming up with that they obviously gave us outdated versions," the Turian ambassador spoke up, "I suggest we get on their good side so we don't look like a threat to them and so they give up more of their advancements for us to attempt to reverse engineer."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **There you go that's it. The Council is still freaking out but is trying to work around things to work in their favor and the Batarians are not happy at all as usual. Before I go in hindsight I should show you a brief summary the Spartans I'm using for Fireteam Domino so you guys and gals aren't confused about them as they say things so here you go.**

 **Squad leader:**

 **Name:** Leonidas Pernicus.

 **Nickname:** the Demon Of Razgriz

 **Callsign:** Blaze

 **Former Rank** : Gunnery Sergeant

 **Current Position:** Squad Lead

 **Branch:** UNSC Marine Corps, ODST, Spartan

 **Race:** Human

 **Age:** 27

 **Armor Type:** ODST Gen 2 Armor

 **Armor Color:** Black, with a Red Visor

 **Bio:** Served during the Insurrection, as well as the beginning of the Great War, fought on 3 Planets, plus the Forerunner Shield world. Was part of the fleet that took back Harvest, the 1st time. Was then redeployed to the Planet know as Razgriz, where him and his team, were instrumental in holding off Multiple Brute, Grunt, and Kig-yar attacks, until the Capital was evacuated, saving 50,000 civilians. They, along with 2 Battalions of Marines held a crucial Pass that led to the city, and out of those 2 Battalions, only 2 Companies of Marines and 5 of his squad survived, counting him, they were then pushed back when Elites and Hunters entered. The 2 Company's and his squad managed to kill 20 Hunters, and 200 Elites, but were eventually driven back after sustaining too many casualties, but not before he fought an Elite Major to the death and managing to outsmart the Major, killing him with his own Experimental Energy sword, which he still keeps with him as well as the Major's 2 Plasma Wrist Daggers that he has built into his Spartan armor. For this action, he was given the Name, Demon of Razgriz among Covenant, and is known as Lesser Demon among the Covenant. He and his squad were then transferred to the _Spirit of Fire_. They then went back to Harvest, then to Arcadia. And then to the Shield World, where his Squad was killed holding off the flood so that they could evacuate the planet. He personally killed his squad after they were infected by the flood.

 **Notable Battles:** Harvest, Razgriz, Arcadia, the Shield world where her Team was killed during the evacuation by the Covenant and the Ark.

 **Weapons:** MA5D, BR85HB, M6D, Combat Knife, 4 Frag Grenades, Hidden Plasma Wrist Daggers, and the Experimental Energy Sword.

 **Race:** White, but with a Native American and Greek Heritage, so he is tanner than pure Caucasian's.

 **Hair:** Brown

 **Eyes:** Blue

Is a Decent Pilot, able to fly the Hornet, Falcon, and Pelican. Has 5 air to air kills, 4 Phantoms, 1 Banshee.

 **Squad Medic:**

 **Name:** Kei Nagase

 **Age:** 26

 **Former Rank:** Lance Corporal

 **Current Position:** Squad Medic/Tech expert

 **Callsign:** Edge

 **Race:** Mixed Asian and Caucasian.

 **Hair Color:** Light Brown.

 **Eye Color:** Brown

 **Armor Type:** Intruder Class Mjolnir Gen 2 armor

 **Armor Color:** Black, with a Red Visor.

 **Weapons:** Carries an SMG, and a Magnum, due to wanting to have extra space for Medical supplies, and hacking equipment

 **Bio:** She Served during the Insurrection, and after ODST Boot Camp was placed in the same Squad as Leonidas, and was present during the Battle of Razgriz, Where she along with Leonidas and his squad became Infamous. After this Battle, she was Transferred to the _Spirit of Fire_ , along with Leonidas, but was placed in a different Team, as they were in need of a Medic.

 **Notable Battles:** Harvest, Razgriz, Arcadia, and the Shield world where her Team was killed during the evacuation by the Covenant and the Ark.

 **Personality:** She is Flirty, and Fun loving while off mission, but if you piss her off you will be in for a world of pain. Her and Leonidas have a very close friendship, seeing as how they are the only surviving members of the Battle of Razgriz.

 **Squad Engineer:**

 **Name:** Martin Faoláin

 **Callsign:** Wolf

 **Former Rank:** Corporal

 **Current Position:** Combat Engineer

 **Gender:** Male

 **Armor Type:** Gen 2 Scout

 **Armor Color:** Blue, with Gold Visor.

 **Personality:** a Scholar of sorts, who always first to talk and the last to shut up. a self-described connoisseur of Beers and Whiskies surprisingly he rarely actually drinks, he's a collector of books, comics, and video games, determined and sometimes focus too much on things.

 **Bio:** Martin was born on a 'piss poor' mining world where is was 'middle' child of four, with his career options being miner or supervisor, which with his education was unlikely. Martin decided to join a shipping company, 'Gale Force', at 18. he was a hauler and later was a self-taught engineer(he once claimed to have fixed a Mantis with a rubber band and chewing gum. In 2520 after celebrating both his 21 birthday and his second year work anniversary, on Reach, he wandered into a recruiting office for the UNSC, he applied several days later. After basic, he was assigned to the _Spirit of Fire's_ on broad marine complement. By the time the second battle of Harvest, he was just promoted to a corporal. While on the Ark he attempted with a few other combat engineers and actually some of the _Spirits_ shipboard engineers to build a Mech using forerunner, UNSC and Covenant tech. He with a most of the younger crew members of the _Spirit_ was offered the chance to have a cadetship which he attempted and completed and eventually joined the Spartans with the rest of the _Spirit of Fire's_ infantry. His surname has been legally changed Faoláin, Which he said was his name in Irish.

 **Battles:** Harvest, Arcadia, the Shield World and the Ark.

 **Interesting Notes:** His first language is Irish and he once confused a covenant lance by swearing at them in Irish. This surprised the rest of his squad as he only spoke English before this.

 **Weapons:** He quite skilled with most Covenant and Human weaponry and personal combat AI.

 **Squad CQC expert/Second in Command:**

 **Name:** Phoros Goldstein

 **Callsign:** Reaper

 **Gender:** Male

 **Race:** Human

 **Age:** 20

 **Former Rank:** Sergeant

 **Current Position:** Second in Command.

 **Branches:** Marines, ODST

 **Armor Type:** Gen 2 Scout Armor

 **Armor Color:** Gray, with Blue visor.

 **Weapons:** Hand-to-Hand, Kukri, most human weapons.

 **Personality:** Quiet, friendly, slightly unemotional.

 **Appearance:** Short Blonde hair, blinded in left eye/Green right eye, sideburns, plasma burn scars on left side of face) and down the left arm, with a portion on left side of the chest, and white tan skin.

 **Bio:** Joined the UNSC Military sometime after the glassing of Harvest. Lost peripheral vision in left eye and various burn degrees after Plasma bombardment starts on some colony, going from the left side of the face, down the left arm, and a portion of the chest being burned. Left eye could not be saved or cloned, so an eye patch is worn over the left eye socket. There is burn scarring along the left side of the body, but still has the full range of movement.

 **Notable Battles:** Harvest, Arcadia, the Shield World, and the Ark.

 **I hope you all like the story because none of this is possible without your support and thanks again to those of you who allowed me to use these amazing OC's for this story. Don't worry about your characters not being important right now but you will have a crucial part to play in the chapters coming up.**


	11. Chapter 11: The Siege of Harsa

**Hey guys and gals, before we begin I've been thinking about the Council's incompetence during the original Mass Effect trilogy and I'd like to hear your opinions on it.**

 **I think that the Citadel station has the ability to indoctrinate those that live on it, but it takes a very long period of time to do so and it's to a very small extent of just altering the perception of anyone with enough power to threaten the Reapers plans, IE why the Council brushes Shepard off at almost every step our journey throughout the games when we warn them of the Reaper threat until it's already too late. I know it might seem really stupid because of one reason or another, but take into account the thing is already a massive trap in the first place and in Mass Effect 2 when you go back to the Citadel and speak with C-sec and the Council about Saran's attack, everyone but Anderson thinks that Sovereign was only a Geth ship. Plus the Council continues to not believe you for a moment even if you did save them in Mass Effect 1 after seeing Sovereign's overwhelming power destroy the Citadel Fleet and a lot of the Alliance Arcturus Fleet with it. It would also make sense for Mass Effect 3 as well for why the Council would rather turtle up and let Earth fall then coordinating together to beat the Reapers.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart:** **Slipspace Nexus en route to Batarian Capital Planet…**

 **Location: Aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire**_ **…**

 **Date: 15 February 2560…**

 **Time: 06:00 military standard time…**

"So you're going to be following us around?" Leonidas asked looking at his assignment and scrolling through the Spectre's dosa. Evidently, the Admiral had ordered that all field and spec-ops units were to get to know the Council 'tagalongs' as of the most crew called them.

"Yes, it's nice to meet all of you my name is Tela Vasir," the Asari said in the friendliest way she could, with a polite smile to top it off.

"I'm Leonidas out in the field and over comms my callsign is Blaze I'm, Fireteam lead," Leonidas said, pointing to his right, "over here is Kei, her callsign is Edge, she's our handy squad medic and the quiet one at the end is Photos, his callsign is Reaper, he's my second in command," the two give polite nods to Tela as Leonidas nudges a man to his left that had his nose stuffed in a book, "and this bookworm here is Martin, his callsign is Wolf and he's our oooh most talented combat engineer."

"Hey someone has to be able to fix your gear when you charge headfirst into enemy lines," Martin defended with a cocky grin, gaining a laugh out of the rest of his team.

"What's a callsign?" Tela asked tilting her head quizzically.

"It's a form of nickname while you're in a combat situation, so the enemy can't target team leads as easily when the enemy has your comms," Martin said, closing and setting down his book.

"Your job title says that you are a 'Spectre' what does that entail if you don't mind?" Leonidas asked leaning back in his chair.

"We are the right hand of the Citadel Council upholding peace and justice of Council law throughout the galaxy while existing outside it, if a single Spectre is assisting in a political dispute or in this case war it shows that the Council is taking action and deems the side we fight alongside as the right side," Tela explained receiving scowls from the Fireteam.

"Wait, 'outside the law'," Kei said shocked, "I'm surprised that your coalition has survived as long as it has."

"Why?" Tela asked feeling insulted by Kei's statement.

"Us humans have a saying, 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts, absolutely'," Martin stated setting his forearms on the table, "no government entity should have that kind of power without checks and balances from more than one outside force to make sure terrine doesn't overtake it."

"I see," Tela nodded her head, "if it makes you feel any better if we are seen as a danger to the galactic stability our status is removed and we are hunted. Not to mention there are very few Spectres at any given time."

"How many?" Kei asked perplexed at the statement.

"It's very rare for us to be anywhere over 100 active operators," Tela explained, "matter of a fact this is the largest gathering of Spectre operatives to date, in Citadel history."

"Wow," Photos spoke up for the first time in the conversation, "either your government is highly supportive of us or they are scared shitless."

"Well, the Council has never encountered a civilization like yours which makes you of course a sort of a unknown variable," Tela explained, "that tends to happen when a fleet magically appears in system with promises of war and warnings of immediate destruction of our heads of government as their first contact package and first impression to the rest of the galactic community."

"True, but we humans have never had a peaceful first contact," Leonidas said with a frown, "even the Batarians shot first and asked questions later."

"The Batarians have a relatively aggressive government, I think in your terms they function more Communist but the normal Batarian civilian is more like a stubborn businessman," Tela informed.

"Nice to know, then we shouldn't really see that much terrorist activity if any from the local populous planetside," Leonidas nodded.

"Now you've asked me about my organization I think it's a fair trade if I ask yours. What are Spartans?" Tela asked secretly opening a recorder to download audio, "I've done my research on the project but there are things left out about it."

"We Spartan IV's are mainly just special forces taking out key targets that kind of thing, but if we are seen on the field, then most enemies know that U.N.S.C. mean business," Martin explained, "all we have is slight augmentations to our bodies and minds to make us faster, stronger and quicker than most normal humans and our armor doubles our reflexes, speed, strength and toughness past that point, along with a few more specialized equipment that work for a very specific tasks."

"Like what?" Tela asked leaning over slightly toward Martin to get better audio.

"That's all classified," Photos said, looking at Tela suspiciously.

"Okay," Tela sighed shutting off the recorder knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere with her questioning.

"One last question," Leonidas said leaning forward, "what is biotics? I've seen it stated multiple times in your combat type but it doesn't say what it is."

"Well, it basically is a side effect of being exposed to large amounts of ezzo, the Asari homeworld is covered in it making every Asari a potent Biotic," Tela said pulsing with blue energy to show off, "the practical use of it is telekinesis, creating personal shields without the need of a shield generator but normal shields help keep it stable, creating larger support shields to help against artillery strikes and creating kinetic energy waves to launch or break armored targets, some techniques actually set the target on fire."

"So it's a support type of power with some useful offensive capabilities," Leonidas said tapping his chin, _that would be quite useful if we had that kind of advantage during the Great War,_ "welcome to Fireteam Domino, Miss Vasir, let's see if you're able to keep up."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan** **…**

 **Location: Aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire**_ **…**

 **Date: 5 March 2560…**

 **Time: 06:00 military standard time…**

"Admiral Cutter, Sword, Dawn, Guardian and Vanquisher War Congregations have jumped at the edge of the system and are hailing us on comms," Marteese Ramsey, Cutter's comm operator called out from his seat on the other side of the room.

Cutter had been sitting at the edge of the Harsa system for the past three solar cycles, gathering data on the defenses of the home system which consisted of warships with the odd station here and there. They were protecting probably infrastructure and shipyards making those clear targets for removal. Cutter mainly used _Prowler-class_ scout ships to estimate the Batarian fleet numbers, which sat at a healthy 1500 warships, 10% cruiser-class, 40% frigate-class and 50% corvette-class. There were also contracted pirate fleets with them, too. Their numbers counting at about 500 severely under classed, undermanned and under armed ships if scans were accurate. 70% of their ships barely met corvette-class and the remaining 30% were frigate-class at best. This totaled the enemy presents to be 2000 ships in power to defend the home system.

"Tell them to meet me in the war room, on deck B-16," Cutter ordered receiving a 'yes, sir' from the officer, yet as Cutter headed to the door a Salarian entered the room.

"Admiral, may I please speak with you," Jondum Bau requested blocking Admiral Cutter's path.

"What would that be?" Cutter asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"When are we launching our strike we've been sitting here for three days," Jondum asked folding his hands over his chest in the same manner.

"Soon," Cutter said, "I'm going to the war room now to meet with the other Admirals assisting with the mission and if you excuse me I'm going to be late for, said meeting."

"Of course my apologies, Admiral," Jondum nodded stepping out of the way for Cutter and following behind the human.

 **XXXXXXXX**

As soon as Cutter entered the war room he found Admirals Rtas, Yen-Keth, N'thavo, and Jonathan speaking about combat coordination, logistics between the fleets for certain supplies and fighter coordination, "Fleetmaster Cutter you're late," Admiral Rtas said being the first one to look up as the door to the war room opened.

"I was attending to other matters," Cutter sighed scratching at the facial hair on his cheek.

"What are we dealing with?" Yen-Keth asked stretching his neck.

"2000 ships, ranging from corvette sized at their smallest and cruiser sized at their largest," Cutter informed the rest, "there are five planets in system, with a singular asteroid belt and a Mass Relay on the other end of the system, most planets are uninhabitable mining worlds except for their homeworld which is the second planet from their star."

"Where are their fleet locations?" Jonathan asked writing notes down on his data-pad.

"Their about 1000 ships blockading the Mass Relay," Cutter said pulling up a system map with red markers as to where they were, "the Mass Relay is where they have stationed government funded pirates, it is most likely given their fleet doctrine that the pirates hold most, if not all their boarding craft and the rest of their ships are spread out into groupings of 200 over each planet."

"This might be a challenge," N'thavo smiled at the defensive stance of the enemy, "so who is taking on which enemy force? This is your operation, you're in charge we're only here for combat support."

"I'll be taking the Capital planet," Cutter clarified, "Rtas, Jonathan hit the fleet near the Mass Relay don't let anyone escape through it but don't hit it or you'll kill everyone in the system."

"Understood," Rtas and Jonathan said simultaneously.

"Yen-Keth you're taking the fifth planet from the star," Cutter informed the Kig-Yar Admiral, "my ONI agents are getting some strange reading from under the planet's surface and I want you to investigate and clear out whatever is down there."

"It will be done," Yen-Keth nodded.

"N'thavo, your to remove the rest of the threats in a system that are not already being dealt with," Cutter looked over at the young Sangheili Admiral, "Rtas will be in to help your fleet once his objective is complete."

"It will be an honor," N'thavo nodded.

"What will I be doing after my objective is complete?" Jonathan asked.

"You are to blockade the Relay from any potential reinforcement groups," Cutter informed, receiving a curt nod in return.

"Admiral Cutter I'd like to requisition a few of your Spartan Fireteams to help clear the planet," Yen-Keth responded.

"I'll be able to spare three Fireteams, will that do?" Cutter asked.

"That should be more than enough," Yen-Keth said with a smile.

"Good, I'll leave your own fleet strategy to you and your Captains to figure out, good hunting Admirals," Cutter saluted the gathered Admirals, receiving the same gesture from them and headed back out of the war room.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan** **…**

 **Location: Aboard the Batarian Dreadnought** _ **Khan**_ **…**

 **Date: 03/05/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 06:00 a.m. galactic standard time…**

Admiral Ghask Radpamak looked over Khar'shan fear in his eyes as more reports came in about several large energy spikes at the edge of system popping up and the loss of Lorek a key producer of element zero.

 _I knew we should not have left our territory to fend for themselves. At least then we would have died with some dignity, now we'll die as cowards,_ Ghask thought in despair, out of moral and out of energy as he prepared to sell the lives of the entire Batarian Navy so the bureaucrats planetside could have a little more time to flaunt around like they still held any actual power left passed the Harsa star system. A lot of soldiers felt that way about the events of the last couple months but not enough to start a coup of their government so they had to follow orders like good soldiers should. Hell, the Council completely abandoned the Batarian race like they had done so before, from the suit rat Quarians and to the warlike Krogan.

"Admiral," one of Ghask's crew members said from behind him with the shaky voice of fear, "it's them."

"I know, young one," Ghask said lowering his head in shame, unable to look at the poor soul behind him, "go and speak to your loved ones planetside through the comms station… make your peace."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **There you go, this war is almost over, at least five more chapters until the end of this arc. I suggest you get your votes in soon before you run out of time. Thank you all for your support with this story. Without all the constant feedback whether you find this a good laugh or you actually find this a good story, I think I would have just stopped writing on this website altogether.**

 **Until next time, this is Iron Warriors signing out.**


	12. Chapter 12: The Siege of Harsa II

**Just fair warning the next few chapters of this story that contain space warfare of any kind will be happening simultaneously with each other timewise for example "Space Battle A is happening the same time as Space Battle Z." Oh, and events from one chapter might spill over to the next, so it might get confusing so read carefully. Everyone understand... good then you can continue along.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Harsa Relay** **…**

 **Location: Aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Shadow of Intent**_ **…**

 **Date: 5 March 2560…**

 **Time: 07:00 military standard time…**

"Exiting Slipspace in T minus 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" Desan, Rtas' navigator said as the entirety of Sword and Vanquisher War Congregations came of-of Slipspace.

"What's our current position compared to the Batarian fleet?" Rtas asked from his command throne.

"We are currently sitting 100,000 km away from their force at about an angle of 45 degrees above the galactic plain," Cuxi responded from her post.

"What of Vanquisher?" Rtas asked looking at reports from other ships.

"Same distance but directly under the Batarian fleet as planned," Cuxi said typing at her monitor.

Rtas and Jonathan had planned to cut the enemy fleet apart with overlapping fields of fire from two angles. Of course, they had to pick this kind of formation to make sure stray shells didn't hit friendly units. The kill box was set, all that needed to happen now was to open fire on the enemy.

"Get me a video communication with Fleetmaster Jonathan," Rtas ordered pulling up a holo-screen for the call, he wanted everything to run as one precise unit for this engagement for complete combat proficiency.

"Admiral Rtas, what do you require?" Jonathan asked as the buzz of conversation sounded from his bridge crew, most likely getting all soldiers aboard to fortified positions across his ship and communicating with other ships.

"Launch all fighters," Rtas ordered, "they can't counter them correctly against them."

"Understood," Jonathan nodded looking passed his screen to one of his crew, "Ramirez get all fighters scrambled now."

"Rtas, do you have targeting solutions on the enemy force?" Jonathan asked as the blips representing the Batarian fleet started turning to face Rtas' fleet.

"Yes," Rtas said looking back at Jonathan, "I will be cutting this channel now so coordinate my fleet," Rtas informed before he shut it down and looking to his new AI courtesy of the Humans, "does the fleet have targeting solutions on the Batarians?"

" _Affirmative Fleetmaster,"_ the AI replied, the AI assigned Rtas' ship had taken on the appearance of an old Sangheili hero from their first war with the San 'Shyuum. If Rtas remembered correctly the AI took that shape because it wanted the crew to be more comfortable around his presents.

"Good wait for the fighter and bomber wings to engage before sending the signal to fire on them," Rtas ordered watching as the blips representing the fighters moved in.

"Fleetmaster the enemy is firing on us!" Cuxi said from her station.

"All power to shields," Rtas said, strapping himself into his command throne, "all crew brace for impact."

The first volley of shots that came toward Rtas' fleet harmlessly bounced off the shields of his ships but still rattled them to no end. "Fleetmaster, shields holding steady at 95%," Cuxi said, "should we send the signal?"

"Are the fighters on them?" Rtas asked, looking at his battle plan.

"Yes, Fleetmaster," Cuxi acknowledged.

"Status report," Rtas ordered.

"All ships are active but a few of our frigates have lost shields under the enemy pressure," Khat, Rtas' assistant fleet coordinator and second in command replied from his post.

"Good, open fleet wide comms," Rtas ordered, "all ships fire at will, burn these Batarians down from existence.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"This is Bravo 1-1, to Bravo 2-1, what's your location?" Bravo 1-1 asked over comms as she weaved around the small numbers of Batarian fighters with her YSS-2000 Saber space superiority strike fighter, cutting down the Batarian fighters in her way with ease as she along with 1-2 through 1-10 escorted the bombers of Gold squadron to their target of a Batarian frigate marked as target 'Beta' after dealing with the engines of a previous frigate class ship.

The YSS-2000 Sabre space superiority strike fighter was a big upgrade since the days of the YSS-1000 model during the battle of Reach. The YSS-1000 needed two pilots, while the YSS-2000 only required one pilot to fly. It is also armed with new rocket types to more effectively bypass shields if not kill the target fighter entirely, a 120mm Gatling cannon with enough power to cut any fighter in half, a small twin plasma cannon and a Spartan Laser system for targeting corvette sized ships and has an upgraded energy shield system that could take a direct shot from a plasma torpedo before the shields would overload. All this made it the deadliest fighter craft in the U.N.S.C. Navy to date.

" _This is Bravo 2-1, to Bravo 1-1, we're fine,"_ the cheery voice of Bravo 2-1 said over comms, _"I think I'm getting more kills then you out here."_

"I doubt that Bravo 2-1, but we'll have to trade notes later," Bravo 1-1 laughed as she sent two missiles out toward another fighter that was dumb enough to get in her flight path, knocking out all its system easily with the first one taking its shields and the second taking out its thrusters. After the missiles do their work, she destroys the rest of the fighter with hundreds of explosive, armor piercing, 120mm rounds.

" _This is Bravo 1-4, I hate to break up your banter but I need a little help these fools are being a pain in my ass,"_ Bravo 1-4 said from above Bravo 1-1 as he did barrel rolls trying to shake three Batarian fighters off his tail.

"I hear you Bravo 1-4, I'm on my way," Bravo 1-1 replied shifting up and firing her plasma cannon and 50 mm at the three fighters cutting through them one by one easily while turning them into molten slag.

" _Thanks, Bravo 1-1, you saved my ass,"_ Bravo 1-4 called out as he banked left intercepting another Batarian fighter that was going after one of Gold Squadron.

"No problem Bravo 1-4, just don't get too cocky," Bravo 1-1 laughed banking right, intercepting another fighter this time with the Spartan Laser, "I can't save your ass all the time."

" _Bravo 1-1, this is Gold 1-1 we're running low on fuel so this will be our final attack run for now,"_ Gold 1-1 informed over comms.

"Copy your last Gold 1-1, you're paying for the drinks when we get shore leave," Bravo 1-1 responded chewing through another fighter with the 120mm and a rocket.

" _Copy Bravo 1-1, but it's going to be the bottom shelf for you fighter jockeys,"_ Gold 1-1 said with an obvious grin on his face that could be heard through comms.

"Cheap skate," Bravo 1-1 chuckled as she did a barrel roll to dodge the incoming defense lasers of the Batarian vessel.

" _Would you look at that, the fleets are finally firing,"_ Bravo 1-10 stated flying past Bravo 1-1 as two MAC shells ripped through a nearby cruiser causing it to start breaking in half at the points of impact.

" _This is Mission Control to all fighter and bomber wings, that's your cue ladies and gentlemen, turn all weapons toward the remaining mission active pirate ships and hit them with everything you've got,"_ Mission Control ordered over comms, _"the big guns will handle the actual warships."_

"Bravo 1-1 to Mission Control, solid copy, out," Bravo 1-1 responded to Mission Control before switching back to squad comms, while making a course correction, "you heard the devil, move to target zone Charlie and engage all hostiles."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Harsa Relay** **…**

 **Location: Aboard Batarian Dreadnought, flagship of the 4th Fleet…**

 **Date: 03/05/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 07:30 galactic standard time…**

"Get battle group one through five to fire toward the second enemy fleet now," the Batarian Admiral yelled at his crew.

"On it," his communications officer said as he sent out the orders.

"Get me a firing solution on the flagship of that fleet now!" the admiral growls as he eyed the curved design of the alien invasion fleet.

"Already there, sir," his weapons operator called out.

"Fire everything at that ship!" the admiral ordered slamming his fist into the CIC causing it to flicker, "I will not be beaten by these aliens!"

"Firing," his weapons operator replies, sending shot after shot at the flagship only for it to bounce off, "our weapons are not effective."

"I don't care, kill it now!" the admiral yelled as a purple streak of light flashed across the Dreadnought's hull, bisecting it and causing it to go supernova at the core, killing everyone and every ship unlucky enough to be caught in the explosion.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Harsa Relay** **…**

 **Location: Aboard Batarian Heavy Cruiser…**

 **Date: 03/05/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 07:30 galactic standard time…**

"Captain, we have had multiple hull breaches on all decks!" the captain heard one of his officers yell out as another blue light hit his ship.

"Get the Guardian Lasers pointed on those fighters I don't want any excuses!" the captain ordered at the top of his lungs.

"Captain, we have another alien fleet right below us!" another officer called out.

"How this is possible, where did they come from?" the first officer panicked.

"Get your head back in the fight or I'll shoot you myself!" the captain threatened drawing his sidearm so he could keep ahold of his crew.

"Captain, the Admiral's flagship has just detonated what do we do?" the second officer cried out in fear.

"Get our main guns pointed at the enemy, launch our disruptor torpedoes and send every round we have at that giant purple flagship!" the captain responded, panicking himself as the ships around him were either cut in half with purple energy weapons, exploded by overwhelming missile attacks, became mission dead do to ungodly powerful coil gun slugs or were simply overrun by massed waves of fighter craft tactics that completely boggled his mind, _we're doomed._

"Yes, sir," all of the crew yelled as a coil gun shell smacked through their shields and through the front of the ship throwing the crew out of their seats from the force of impact.

"Sir, our main cannon is offline!" the weapons operator yelled as he got back in his chair, trying to get the damned thing to work.

"Helmsman, get us out of here we need to warn the other fleets now," the Captain said as he stood back up.

"On it, Captain," the helmsman replied turning the ship using the ship's FTL to take it straight to the homeworld.

"What… is… that… thing?" the helmsman asked as they stopped right in front of the weapon systems of a massive ship almost the size of the Citadel. It was surrounded by another fleet similar to the first fleet that they had already run away from but every ship had a more blocky and angular appearance to those of the other fleet, which had more of a rounded or organic appearance, like the second fleet they had engaged before hand.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Harsa Relay** **…**

 **Location: Aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Shadow of Intent**_ **…**

 **Date: 5 March 2560…**

 **Time: 07:30 military standard time…**

"Battle groups Foxtrot and Hotel block off the relay and destroy any Batarian ship that attempts to flee system by Mass Relay," Rtas ordered into his fleet wide comms.

"Fleetmaster we've just lost two frigates to concentrated enemy fire," Cuxi call out from her post.

"That makes 10 ships," Rtas sighed, the Batarian fleet had started thinking smart halfway through the fight and started choosing to focus fire with groups of 20 of their ships on to each frigate hoping to take out some of the UNSC with them, "continue the onslaught they will pay for those warriors with their lives."

"Fleetmaster all off them are starting to focus fire on us," Desan called out as the _Shadow of Intent_ started shaking violently.

"Do all weapons have targets?" Rtas asked cold anger emanating from his voice.

"Yes, Fleetmaster," Cuxi said tapping her screen.

"Open fire with all weapons," Rtas said looking to the viewport, seeing the Batarian rounds bounce harmlessly off the shields.

"Fleetmaster, that' not a good idea shields are already at 30%," Cuxi argued.

"Just, do it," Rtas ordered, keeping his focus on the viewport.

"Yes, Fleetmaster," Cuxi sighed loudly as Rtas watched as waves of purple fire wash across the Batarian fleet, plasma lances cutting ships in half two at a time, plasma torpedoes blowing chunks out of their ships.

" _There are multiple hull breaches across our front facing,"_ the AI called out.

"Casualties?" Rtas asked clasping his arms behind his head.

" _Three dead, ten wounded,"_ the AI replied.

"Get EVA teams to the damaged front of the ship," Rtas ordered looking at his tactical map seeing the absence of Batarian blips on the screen, "I want all dead and wounded taken to the medical ward."

"Fleetmaster Jonathan is hailing you over comms," Cuxi stated.

"We've got them head to your next objective, I'll handle what's left here," Jonathan over audio before ending the call.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Dezda** **…**

 **Location: Aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **New Beginnings**_ **…**

 **Date: 5 March 2560…**

 **Time: 07:00 military standard time…**

N'thavo watched the holographic map as his ships represented in a blue outline moved toward the Batarian planet of Dezda, a supposed uranium mining. It was hard to tell if the planet itself still held any value to the Batarians resource wise because of all the faulty intel the Council had on Batarian space in the first place. The Batarian fleet present around the planet was outlined in red and was positioned on the other side of the planet, slowly doing an orbital patrol.

"All ships enter a staggered gun line," N'thavo ordered over fleet wide comms as the Batarian fleet moved to the side of the planet that N'thavo's fleet was heading, "set your spacings to 1,000km between each ship, I don't want anyone hitting each other when you start jinking enemy rounds."

The Guardian War Congregation spread out in a semi crescent shape, with six rows of fire power. The Frigates made up the first, second and sixth ranks of fire supported by the mixed firepower of Cruisers of the third and fifth rows which protected the Carriers and Dreadnought contingent in the fourth row.

"All Carriers deploy interceptor wings for anti-missile and fighter screening," N'thavo said after Guardian got in formation, "and all gun line ships hold fire until I say so."

It didn't take long for the Batarian defenders to pick Guardian up on their sensors and start charging forward weapons trained on them and fired at them with missiles. The missile barrage didn't get close enough to damage any of the ships they were aimed at but those missiles were soon followed by the low weight high-velocity shells of their main coil gun batteries these Council races were known for using. Most of their initial shots went wide and those that impacted the ships of Guardian's ships simply bounced off of them do to the shield systems. It was obvious this fleet was made up of the younger generation of warriors with little to no experience fighting in full open warfare most likely panicking in desperation as their targets held firm with no external damage inflicted on them.

"Send them a message to stand down and live as POWs in hopes to see their families again or die for their dead cause," N'thavo ordered in pity of the poor souls that he was about to extinguish.

"Sent," the communications officer replied to the order and after a few seconds of wait responded, "they refuse Fleetmaster, they actually just ordered us to surrender."

"Very well then," N'thavo sighed, looking back to his deployment board, "all ships open fire on the enemy fleet... make it quick."

All ships of the Guardian War Congregation that had the correct fire power opened fire with burning plasma lances that cut ships in half by the twos and threes and by plasma torpedoes that hit the Batarians with the power of miniature suns. Under the intense heat of the first volley of shots, nothing was left to see but hundreds of recks and slabs of jagged metal orbiting a long dead world.

"Fleetmaster Rtas Vadum is hailing us," the comms officer called out.

"Patch him through," N'thavo sighed.

" _The relay has been secured where should I direct my ships?"_ Rtas asked after a full-sized hologram of him appeared on the other side of N'thavo's holo-map.

"The gas giant," N'thavo said looking over a tablet with the tactical data on each of his target planets and fleets, "it's a possible fuel plant, I'd take care of it myself but I'd rather not take the chances with a nuclear weapons facility here."

" _Understood, don't take too long,"_ Rtas said his hologram phasing out of existence.

"Order all ships to prepare mining lasers to destroy the outer crust of that planet," N'thavo said sitting down in his command throne.

"What about possible slaves," the weapons officer asked starting up the mining laser.

"Death is a fate better than what they live in now," N'thavo stated, "the slaves on this planet would most likely be slaves of several generations and most likely won't know what to do with themselves even if they had the choice."

"I understand, sir" the weapons operator sighed as Guardian War Congregation started orbiting the planet, each ship above a nuclear weapons storage facility or a mine.

"Fire," N'thavo said coldly as the high-intensity plasma beams burned their way across the surface, setting off the nuclear weapons and turning their mines into craters sending nuclear fallout across the planet, "may their souls be laid to rest."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **There you go, the chapter is done with, 100% space battles yay. I'm still experimenting with the whole concept right now so if there is anything you'd like to see incorporated into this story don't be shy and tell me either by PM or in your review.**

 **Until next time this is Iron Warriors signing out...**


	13. Chapter 13: Tying Up Loose Ends

**Well, I've decided to pull away from the space battles at the moment to take care of a loose end on the Citadel. IE the former Batarian Citadel ambassador turned terrorist group leader, enjoy.  
**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Serpent Nebula…**

 **Location: Citadel, Presidium Junction, Bachjret Ward Arm…**

 **Date: 3 March 2560…**

 **Time: 12:30 military standard time…**

Johnny walked out of the elevator in full combat gear, his DMR held firmly in hand flanked by 11 other marines. four had an MA5 series rifles in their hands modified to have red dot sights on top of their ammo counters and in place of the standard flashlight they had 40mm grenade launchers, four more were equipped with BR rifles with plasma benefits attached, another two had a SMGs and medical supplies and the last two were equipped with SAWs and extra ammo for the squads. All 12 of them were split evenly into two squads of six soldiers, which is then written down into two teams of three. Johnny and the other marines were about to start routine patrols assisting with keeping the Presidium safe from Batarian terrorist cells that had sprung up throughout every single Ward arm of the station because of the decision of the Council to leave the Batarian Hegemony to its fate.

With the sudden rise in terrorist acts and rising crime, C-sec was spread unnaturally thin across the station trying to counter the terrorist cells and complete their other assorted tasks. For example, ten C-sec officers gunned down in cold blood during a protest by angry Batarians within the first week of the Councils verdict to abandon the Hegemony and five dead, twenty wounded after bombing using an IED near C-sec headquarters hidden in a nearby trash can. The total death toll as of 3 March, is around 200 civilian deaths and 100 C-sec personnel KIA, with multiple hundreds of thousands more in critical condition. This is where the AUR comes in, they had the experience dealing with insurrectionists and Covenant splinter cells in their own lands and was quite adept in dealing with it, but they needed to deploy another two full companies of marines to have enough manpower to assist Council forces, one of them even being a full Hunter company. A few war reporters also tagged along as well to document the events for the evening news but nobody really cared, too busy trying to do their jobs.

Most of the more aggressive, active and well-armed cells were operating out in the Bachjret Ward arm which is where the UNSC marines stationed on the Citadel chose to direct their full attention to. That and reports that Batarian black ops teams that were the Batarian ambassador's security detail were assisting the local terrorist groups in the area, most likely were all being lead by the ambassador himself. All the constant attacks on this particular ward forced the Council to declare the entire arm an active war zone and implement martial law. Over the time the UNSC Marines and C-sec forces worked together, the standing between them changed from a simple necessity to work together, to a mutual respect and trust between the two factions.

The UNSC marines working with C-sec even adopted the C-sec logo to their combat uniforms to get the civilians to trust them more as protectors then invaders. C-sec officers working with the Marines did the same with the UNSC marine logo to their uniforms. The only way they were able to get it passed uniform regulations was to turn the logos into campaign pins and patches.

"This way people, you will find food and shelter this way," an Asari C-sec officer said moving a scared group of civilians pulled from all council races except for Batarians toward the elevator Johnny and his team had just stepped out of.

Just a week ago the C-sec brass had declared the area to be evacuated of any civilian presence. One because the Batarian terrorists had taken a liking to public executions of anyone they saw as a 'lesser race' which meant everyone with less than four eyes and two because they saw it as a way to destroy C-sec moral to fight them, which was working quite well in the Batarians favor. This really didn't affect the UNSC Marines as much because of witnessing far greater horrors in their lifetimes.

"Captain Varix," Johnny said stepping up to the Asari C-sec officer and saluting, "we were informed that you would be giving us our mission briefing."

"Corporal Maxwell, I presume," Captain Varix nodded to him as the full elevator started to ascend, "your mission is to search residential block C-15, for any civilians and direct them back here to be processed and sent to areas of the Citadel that are still secure, so when we make our attack across this arm we don't have to worry about these terrorist using them as shields like they have done in the past."

"What about enemy contacts?" Johnny asked marking a path to residential block C-15 on his wrist computer.

"The standard Batarian militiaman patrol teams nothing too serious," Varix said, "you will be pushing up to the 'borderline' of their claimed territory though, so watch for potential reinforcements."

"What's our rules of engagement?" Johnny asked.

"If you can take the shot then take it, it will be one less contact to deal with when we start our assault."

"Will we have air support?"

"No, they hit a C-sec munitions base not long ago, so it's quite possible they have anti-aircraft weaponry, you'll have to rely on yourselves and the other patrol groups around you for assistance."

"I understand, ma'am," Johnny nodded, "is there anything else we need to be informed of before we go?"

"Yes there is one last thing, there is an abandoned C-sec outpost near C-15, that Intel thinks civilians might be hiding in," Vartix pointed to a blip on Johnny's wrist computer, "that's it, good hunting."

"You heard the lady, let's go marines," Johnny said to his squad as they made their way past the gates.

"Hoorah!" the other marines say in unison.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Serpent Nebula…**

 **Location: Citadel, Residential Block C-15, Bachjret Ward Arm…**

 **Date: 3 March 2560…**

 **Time: 14:45 military standard time…**

Johnny held up his fist to stop his team which consisted of six as they approached an intersection between them and the abandoned C-sec outpost. Their march to the station was relatively clear with only one IED that they had to disarm.

"Team 1 cross the street, team 2 overwatch," Johnny ordered aiming down the left side of the street with his DMR.

"Team 2, crossing," Corbin, Team 2's lead said moving across the street with two other marines following close behind.

"Team 2 overwatch, Team 1 cross the street," Johnny ordered moving across the street at a brisk pace followed by the last two marines, "watch your motion trackers I don't want to be caught off guard with an ambush."

"Copy that Corporal," Corbin responded, "so, where are we? Everything looks the same."

"Right outside the C-sec outpost, five clicks from that slow ass elevator," Johnny stated looking over the map of their location.

"Ever think that the Protheans all died after being stuck in those things?" Corbin asked taking a swig of water from his canteen.

"There are worse ways to go out," Johnny chucked.

"True," Corbin said looking around his weapon aimed, "we should get inside it's too quiet."

"Agreed, start clearing the building," Johnny ordered lining up at the door his team right behind him, "Team 1 on me, clear out the second level."

"You heard the man, Team 2 clear ground level," Corbin said lining up on the opposite side.

"BREACHING!" Johnny yelled out as he kicked the door in, his weapon ready to fire with his team following close behind, "clear."

"Go, go, go," Johnny whispered, slowly walking up the flight of stairs near the entrance of the outpost, finding a couple Turian C-sec operatives dead on the stairs, most likely killed in a previous firefight, "Yolanda take their tags."

"Corporal," Yolanda nodded as she knelt down over the bodies.

The rest of the team kept moving up the stairs finding four more C-sec operatives dead behind some makeshift barricades. Another two Turians, a Salarian and an Asari all officers having on riot gear.

"I've got six KIA C-sec troops up here," Johnny whispered over comms, keeping his DMR leveled in the hallway ready for anything, "any good news down there?"

" _We've got a couple of dead civies down here too,"_ Corbin replied, _"at least it looks like it was painless."_

"Copy," Johnny said looking at four doors in the hallway, "Jaxson takes the first door on the right, Yolanda takes the first door on the left."

"Yes, corporal," they both said in unison as they leveled their rifles at their target doors.

Johnny walked passed the body of the Salarian, intent on the door on the far right. As he moved closer to the door he picked up a blip on his motion tracker coming from the room just behind him causing him to turn and take aim at the door. It was obvious that he wasn't the only one to see it because both Jaxon and Yolanda turned their weapons to the door as well.

"Jaxon, take the point," Johnny ordered keeping his full attention on the door as he toggled his radio, "Team 2, come in."

" _This is Team 2, send traffic,"_ Corbin responded over comm.

"Possible contact, second level," Johnny whispered as Jaxson lined up on the door with Yolanda right next to him on the other side of the door, "if you hear heavy gunfire, get your asses up here."

" _Understood, corporal,"_ Corbin responded.

"Breach in 3… 2… 1…" Johnny said to his team as he kicked the busted door down, leveling their rifles at the occupants, "UNSC MARINES, ON THE THE GROUND NOW!"

"Sergeant Rirlar, C-sec," a Salarian said hands held in the air to signify peace, "are you the reinforcements?"

"We're evacuating the whole arm," Johnny clarified as he and his squad lowered their rifles away from the C-sec officer, to Rirlar's distress, "how many civilians are with you here?"

"40 civilians," Rirlar said still perturbed by the news of evacuation, "and about 10 C-sec Officers."

"Where?" Johnny said gripping his rifle tighter.

"Spread around the building," but for the most part, they are in the prison cells in the basement," Rirlar pointed out.

"Why did you leave your dead laying on the ground?" Yolanda spoke up holding up the tags she took off the dead officers outside the room and on the stairs.

"We were under attack," Rirlar said confused, "I thought you took out the Batarian soldiers when you got here."

"There is no Batarian force within a mile of this location," Johnny pointed out, a conclusion slowly forming in his head as he quickly activated his comlink to Team 2, "Corbin, get that floor locked down now."

" _Wait why?"_ Corbin asked confused.

"Ambush," Johnny said in a panic, "Sergeant, get anyone that can fire a gun to the first floor, now."

"Okay," Rirlar nodded, complete horror showing on his face, "Castis get everyone of fighting age to the first floor and make sure they're armed."

"We better get going," Johnny said leaving the room quickly and heading back down to the first floor, "how are we looking on manpower, Corbin?"

"There are around 30 of us, only 10 of us that are active military units and the rest are either retired or new to fighting," Corbin sighed as all ten C-sec/UNSC marines grouped up with Johnny.

"I leave my command to Corporal Maxwell, I'm getting too old to make all the decisions on my own," Rirlar announced to the gathered soldiers, "What's the plan then?"

"I want five groups of seven," Johnny ordered, "two soldiers per every five civilians with a weapon."

"That won't be enough, these are their black ops units that are hitting us," a Turian C-sec officer said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Then what do you suggest we do then?" Johnny asked doing the same as he lifted an eyebrow to the Turian.

"There is a Krogan merc locked up down in the brig," the Turian C-sec officer said before getting cut off by Rirlar.

"Absolutely not," Rirlar objected.

"Quiet, I want to hear what he has to say," Johnny glared at Rirlar.

"Krogans are quite durable in a fight and this one really knows how to fight," the Turian continued, "it took 10 of our best officers before he'd been taken in four months ago and that's only because he got hungry."

"I'd like to speak with this Krogan myself if you don't mind," Johnny said to the Turian, "by the way what's your name?"

"Castis Vakarian, at your service," Castis saluted Johnny and Johnny did the same.

"Well then, officer Vakarian lead the way," Johnny said making a gesture for him to proceed, "Corbin, get everyone situated while I go meet this possible ally and get a distress call out."

"Understood," Corbin saluted as Johnny followed officer Castis, "come on people line up chop, chop, we're making fireteams."

 **XXXXXXXX**

"About damn time," the red armored Krogan chuckled, sitting up in his cot with an amused smile, "and here I thought you boys forgot about me with all the fun upstairs."

"So, this is him?" Johnny asked looking the hulking creature looking at him with a bright dangerous smile as an explosion rocked the building, "and here I thought Krogans were bigger."

"I'm bigger in the quad then you, pyjak," the Krogan said laughing, with his smile getting bigger after another explosion, "and your one of those humans I saw on the news, I've gotta say you humans know how to make news interesting with the way you operate… so straightforward, like a Krogan in a blood rage."

"So what's your name, friend?" Johnny asked after letting out a good laugh of his own.

"I am Wrex, of clan Urdnot," the Krogan said, standing up and walking toward the shield between him and Johnny, "so why you here, pyjak?"

"You're a merc correct?" Johnny asked crossing his arms getting serious.

"Ye's, why do you care?" Wrex answered with his own question.

"I've got a proposition for you which benefits the both of us," Johnny stated, smiling knowing that he has the Krogan's full attention now, "would you like to hear it?"

"What will it be?" Wrex asked, curious about why a human would have need of him for.

"You see, the Batarians have us outmanned and outgunned so I'd like to enlist your help on getting the civilians back to the Presidium Junction," Johnny said, "in return, you get to walk free from this dusty old cell."

"Deal, I was getting bored in this place anyway," Wrex chuckled, "give me a weapon and I'll solve your Batarian problem."

"You heard the man," Johnny smirked as he cracked his knuckles.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"How are things going up here, Corbin," Johnny asked as he, Castis and Wrex took cover next to Corbin from the hail of bullets that the Batarians were throwing out.

"Just peachy," Corbin said peeking out from his cover to shoot at the upper level of the nearby building with his MA5's underslung grenade launcher, "they started their attack as soon as you went down to the brig."

"What are we looking at?" Johnny asked firing his DMR at the light of gunfire from the building Corbin had just put a grenade through before going back down to avoid more fire coming down on him.

"At least three squads of militiaman and a black ops group," Corbin stated firing at another building with rapid fire before being forced back down by Batarian fire, "they hid in the damn buildings around us, two of the C-sec officers are dead, Jaxon took a direct hit from one of their grenades but he's still combat effective and Yolanda is stuck tending to three wounded civies."

"Is anyone coming to assist?" Johnny asked as he jumped out of cover and took the forehead off of a Batarian militiaman in a fountain of gray matter and blood.

"I've got nothing yet," Corbin stated hunkering down after attempting to peek over his cover and gets his helmet blown off by a sniper shot, "hahaha, that was a little too close for comfort."

"No kidding," Johnny replies taking aim at the sniper and fires two shots at him, the first breaking his shields and the second putting a hole through his chest, killing the sniper before he even hits the ground by falling out the window."

"We need to lead them away so the civilians can get free," Castis said firing his rifle at a Batarian militiaman attempting to run between cover, killing him.

"Wrex, any ideas?" Johnny asked the Krogan, causing him to gin and fault out the window as he put up a barrier with his Biotic powers, "now would be the time."

"You going to join the fun or not?" Wrex called out as the Batarians started to focus fire on him.

"Rirlar, Castis, I need you two to get all the civilians together and get out the back entrance while we draw their fire, marines follow me!" Johnny said as he jumped out the window to join Wrex in pushing forward with the rest of his team following, without waiting for a response.

"Those humans are as crazy as Krogan," Rirlar sighed, "come on officer Vakarian our duty is to the civilians first."

"Yes, sergeant," Castis replied as he reloaded his weapon.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"Cover me, reloading," Corbin yelled out as he took cover behind a downed vehicle.

"Covering!" Johnny called out sending five shots at a group of Batarians, causing them to scatter.

"I have to say, you pyjaks know how to fight," Wrex said laughing as he used a singularity to grab up three Batarian militiamen and gunned them back down with a rifle he took off a dead Batarian black ops agent.

"Damn right, we humans have a very long history of warfare," Jaxon said as he tried to use his SAW to take down a group of Batarians only to get himself shot in the shoulder, "son of a fucking bitch, I've been hit... again, I think it hit an artery. We need better armor this shit isn't helping."

"We've all been hit and I don't think better armor would help in this situation anyways, grenade out!," Johnny said as he pulled the pin on a grenade and threw it at the group of Batarians after counting to three, killing them all in the blast. The group he threw the grenade at was the same group Jaxon was trying to gun down before getting shot.

They had been like this for a good 40 minutes now as they successfully drew away from the Batarian ambushers. They had lost two marines from Team 2 in the fight and everyone left had taken wounds and were running out of ammo fast. Well, except for the Krogan, if Johnny had to guess, they wouldn't have been able to leave the C-sec outpost building and they all would have died in there.

" _Corporal Maxwell, you reading me?"_ Castis called over comms.

"We're still here," Johnny said running over to Jaxon to help stop the bleeding with Biofoam.

" _Civilians are clear, you can pull back now,"_ Castis stated.

"Negative, we're pinned on all sides," Johnny said after trying to peek over the downed hover car he and Jaxon were using as cover, nearly having his head taken off in the process, "we're not going to make it out of here, even if we tried."

" _We could come back if you need the support,"_ Castis argued slight panic in his tone.

"Negative, you'll be backing up a graveyard," Johnny denied, rolling out of cover to drop another Batarian with his DMR, switching to his sidearm, "I'm out, Jaxon you have any spare ammo?"

"My bag is empty, corporal," Jaxon stated, fishing out his magnum with his good arm.

" _This is Spartan Locke of Fireteam Osiris, to Corporal Maxwell, do you copy?"_ Johnny heard over comms in confusion.

"We hear you Spartan, what are you doing here?" Johnny asked blind firing over cover with his sidearm.

" _Not the time. Stand by, reinforcements are on the way,"_ Locke said as a Prowler-class stealth ship flew overhead with a sonic boom to top it off.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **There you go, a chapter this time within four days. I hope this is the right draft because my edit doc on this site is no loger accessing Grammarly for me to fix things here and I have to switch between drafts everytime now to see if it's correct. So sorry if the grammar is all fuck up.**

 **So the Citadel has taken a trip head first off the deep end and yes Wrex cameo. Out of all the Mass Effect Characters, he shares my number one spot alongside Tali. YES, I'm a Talimancer, sue me!**

 **I hope you all enjoyed the return of our all-star nobody and my first begrudging introduction of Locke *insert cringe face here*. The reason I brought him in is that of his skill set involves the assassination of enemy officials and that's it, well that and because I like Buck the others can burn in hell for all I care.  
**

 **I hope you all have a great rest of the day and don't have too much fun.**


	14. Chapter 14: Tying Up Loose Ends II

**Sorry this took so long to get out, I kind of wanted to get this chapter done so we could return to our main fight in Harsa. This has been my longest chapter to date of over 5,000 words. I'd like to know if you would rather have longer chapters that take longer to get out or would you rather keep things the way they are with chapters that reach out from 2,000-3,000 words with the rare occasion where we reach 4,000-5,000?**

 **Oh and just a quick note for you guys, I took the liberty of changing one member Osiris out from the team you would see in Halo 5. I chose to give Romeo the seat over Tanaka because everyone but Tanaka has had experience in dealing with ONI operations and she kind of seemed out of place with the rest of the team. Plus I always saw it as kind of dumb that they would split up the last two active members of Alpha-9 like they did.**

 **Enough of my jabbering, let's continue on with the story.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Serpent Nebula…**

 **Location: Citadel, Residential Block C-15, Bachjret Ward Arm…**

 **Date: 3 March 2560…**

 **Time: 15:35 military standard time…**

All members of Fireteam Osiris sat in the cargo bay of their prowler checking their equipment silently as it flew through the Citadel wards. Locke was closest to the airlock while the rest of his team sat at the opposite side. There was tension in the air and the usual joking mood of Romeo was nowhere to be seen.

All of them were equipped with their standard loadout. Buck and Romeo had modified ODST Gen 2-class Mjolnir armor, Vale had Copperhead-class Mjolnir armor and Locke had Hunter-class Mjolnir armor. Buck had an MA5C with red dot sight and silencer attachments and two silenced M7/caseless SMGs, Romeo had an SRS99D-S2 and a silenced M7/caseless SMG, Vale had a silenced M7/caseless SMG and an M6C/SOCOM magnum and Locke had a BR85 with silencer attachment and a silenced M7/caseless SMG.

"So what's the target, we were sent to this place in a hurry?" Buck asked as he did a final systems check on his armor and his MA5C.

"We are to capture or kill a Batarian ambassador that has been causing trouble across this station for the Citadel Council," Locke said looking over the mission briefing, "local UNSC Marine units assigned to defending our embassy have been assisting in trying to squash these rebels for a couple months, but all parties are spread too thin to make any real difference."

"Why isn't the Council reinforcing its own numbers if it's really that bad?" Romeo questioned.

"They already struggle keeping trade routes and their colonies safe from organized crime syndicates and raiders," Locke said with a sigh, "if they pulled units back to fight their terrorist cells then they would run a rather high chance of losing planets and causing their economies to drop. Not to mention that every single race under the Citadel Council has such strict laws and red tape covering them that it makes it damn near impossible for any race to build a sufficient military to protect themselves."

"Permission to speak freely," Vale said.

"Go ahead," Locke nodded to her.

"Your making it sound like this Council power is less than competent," Vale sighed, crossing her arms, "and extremely controlling."

"Incompetent no, it's more like they've grown complacent, from their point of view they have existed as the galactic super power of tech and military might for well over 2,000 years," Buck chimed back in, rolling his shoulders, "it happens to all major governing bodies over the course of their existence. You only have to look at the feudal governments of our early age back on earth"

"Where did you hear this, Buck?" Romeo laughed, thinking it ridiculous.

"I actually paid attention in school," Buck jabbed at Romeo, who fainted fake hurt.

"Locke, I've got something on local comms, 200.5," Vale said cocking her head to the side, "your going to want to hear this."

" _Corporal Maxwell, you reading me?"_ Locke heard a Turian voice call out as he flipped comms.

" _We're still here,"_ a human voice said obviously Corporal Maxwell, with gunfire echoing in the background.

" _Civilians are clear, you can pull back now,"_ the Turian responded.

" _Negative, we're pinned on all sides,"_ Corporal Maxwell denied in distress, _"we're not going to make it out of here, even if we tried."_

" _We could come back if you need the support,"_ the Turian tried arguing.

" _Negative, you'll be backing up a graveyard,"_ Corporal Maxwell stated in a grim tone, causing Buck to tense at the words.

"We're not going to abandon them are we?" Buck asked looking at Locke, his expression unreadable behind the faceplate of his Spartan armor but Locke could feel the anger behind it, "or are we repeating last time?"

Buck was referring back to the team's last capture mission against a Covenant splinter cell calling themselves The Last Prophets, back near the beginning of 2558. The Last of the Prophet's leadership was filled with the remaining San 'Shyuum minor Prophets with mainly fanatical Sangheili, Unggoy and Kig Yar forces making up their numbers and still they were the third largest splinter cell outside the Storm Covenant at #2 and the Banished as #1. They have also recently taken the #2 spot with the fall of the Storm Covenant adding the remnants of the Storm Covenant fleet to their numbers, making a ⅓ jump in numbers. This splinter cell had sent a fleet against one of the more remote UEG outer colonies hoping to gain a foothold in UEG controlled space as well as a possible refuelling station. The UNSC army forces were holding well but they didn't have much of a presence planetside so they were slowly being whittled away by attrition. Osiris was sent to capture or kill the Prophet commander of the attack to disorganize the enemy presence for a counter attack by UNSC navy units grouping at the edge of the system.

To give a brief overview of the mission, Osiris had picked up a distress call from an Army platoon pinned behind enemy lines. Osiris could have taken a detour to save the platoon but Locke denied the request saying _'that the platoon was giving them a valuable window of opportunity to remove the Prophet by drawing the majority of the enemy's attention away from them'_ resulting in the death of the entire platoon. The mission was completed but Buck, Romeo and Vale avoided their team lead like the plague outside of training and missions ever since then.

"Where are they?" Locke asked Vale.

"Two clicks to our direct east, residential district C-15" Vale responded, "grid coordinates X: 0355, Y: 2443."

"Pilot, get us there," Locke ordered, chambering a round in his BR85, "this is Spartan Locke of Fireteam Osiris, Corporal Maxwell do you copy?"

" _We hear you Spartan, what are you doing here?"_ Corporal Maxwell responded, joy in his tone.

"Not the time. Stand by, reinforcements are on the way," Locke said as the prowler's hatch to the outside opened, "it's time for a hot drop Spartans."

Locke jumped out of the moving spacecraft followed by Buck, then Vale and lastly Romeo. Using thermals as they descended, they were able to pick out at least 20 Batarian combatants firing at the UNSC soldiers below. Ten in the building to the south and five each in the buildings on the east and west.

"Romeo take the roof of the building to the north, drop all Batarian targets you can get in your sites," Locke ordered, marking the tallest building to the north.

"Yes, sir," Romeo responded begrudgingly, turning toward the building and splitting off from the main group to take his position.

"Buck, Vale take the building to the east and west and clear all hostiles you find," Locke ordered lighting up two, three story buildings on the opposite sides of each other with objective markers. Both Buck and Vale turned toward their targets without a word to Locke as they descended. Locke continued on course for the largest group of hostiles in the southward building.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"Hey guys, you don't mind me dropping by, do you?" Buck joked after he landed roughly in the top story of his target building, finding three Batarians trying to set up a machine gun nest to fire on the squad of Marines below.

The Batarians barked at each other in their language before attempting to turn the weapon toward Buck as he stood up. Buck quickly grabbed his weapon firing at the first guy manning the gun, quickly bringing him down before he could fire. These Batarians obviously didn't have shield systems so Buck switched the mode on his MA5C to semi automatic, dropping the last two with perfect headshots right between their four eyes.

"Hmm, I guess they mind," Buck shrugged as he activated his invisibility cloak and vanished into thin air.

Buck slowly creeped down the stairs, past a bug like thing with four legs and two arms that split into four at where the elbow is supposed to be. The thing didn't notice him which made him glad because the thing royally scared the crap out of him. When Buck reached the second level he found one well armored Batarian and six other Batarians. Most of the group was obviously not picked up on thermals do to being too far into the building. Buck crept around to the rear of the Batarian soldier in armor and slammed his rifle butt into the back of his head, caving in the helmet and his skull with one heavy hit, causing the others to jump in fear as their team leader was quickly killed by nothing. Buck killed the remaining six others with two quick shots to the chest each.

 _This feels too much like fighting insurrectionists,_ Buck sighed as he continued to go down to the first level to see ten more there.

Four of them were obviously dead if the missing half of their heads was any indicator, the others were too distracted by the giant hulking lizard firing on them to notice Buck walk down stairs without his cloak activated to conserve energy. Buck took the opportunity to gun down five out of the last six Batarians before the lizard slammed through the wall the last one was hiding behind, crushing him to death before aiming his weapon at Buck.

"I'm friendly big guy," Buck said raising his free hand in a peaceful gesture at least he hoped it was.

"You the thing that flew head first into the building?" the lizard asked lowering his weapon.

"Yes, I am Spartan Buck and you are?" Buck asked checking the ammo counter on his rifle.

"I am Urdnot Wrex, let's go, there is still more to kill," Wrex laughed reloading his weapon, "you humans are full of surprizes."

"He's a happy one," Buck chuckled following after him.

 **XXXXXXXX**

Vale hit her building the same time Buck did but instead rolled to a halt next to a group of three Batarians. Pulling out her magnum, she put one round through each of their heads. Heading down to the next floor she spotted another group of Batarians, this time a group of seven. Three of these Batarians were wearing what the Citadel passed as powered armor systems. Vale quickly holstered her magnum and engaged in CQC with them before they were able to spot her, knowing from tech briefings that it would take too long for her to take out their shields and kill them with her current loadout.

The first one closest to her that wasn't armored was the easiest to remove with a simple devastating punch to the back of it's unarmored head, caving in his skull in a spray of blood and grey matter. The second two closest to her tried to tackle her to the ground and subdue her but Vale rolled out of the way causing them to hit each other instead causing them to break each others shield from the full on collision as she unholstered her magnum and fired at the dazed pair with six shots killing them with multiple rounds through the heart. She then turned to the last armored Batarian throwing him through the broken window. The last of the Batarians tried running for the stairs but were ultimately cut down when Vale switched for her SMG. After clearing the Batarians on the level she moved to the ground floor, finding all hostiles already dead from sniper fire.

" _You're welcome,"_ Romeo called out to Vale over comms with a cheeky tone to it.

"Don't get too cocky now," Vale said vaulting through a window and landing on a Batarian running by, crushing him under her armor.

" _Vale, regroup at the Marine position,"_ Buck ordered over comms, _"have your med kit ready we've got wounded."_

"On my way," Vale said sprinting toward Buck's marker.

 **XXXXXXXX**

Locke landed through the roof and onto a Batarian militiaman with enough force to dent the floor under the now dead Batarian. There were five others in the room that he could see and were still dazed by the force of Locke's entry which allowed him to quickly dispatch them with three shot bursts to three out of the five, killing them easily while utilizing Spartan Time to quickly engage the last two with CQC combat. During the course of the CQC Locke fractured ones rib cage by punching him in the abdomen, cracked the skull of the other with his BR85 and lastly breaking the neck of the one he had punched in the ribs. Soon after Locke headed for the stairs he heard Romeo's sniper crack and a motion blip behind him flash into existence before disappearing again this time with an 'X' over it.

" _You should really check your surroundings, sir,"_ Romeo called over comms as three more high impact sniper shots rang out across the battle zone.

Locke continued to the second level finding two living Batarians and four dead do to an explosion. He aimed his BR85 at the two remaining Batarians killing them easily and continued down to the last floor finding six Batarians waiting for him before opening fire, forcing Locke behind a pillar for cover while prepping a sticky grenade to throw at the Batarians. When the blue pulsing grenade landed in the midst of the Batarians, one tried picking it up but got stuck on the grenade instead before it exploded in a haze of blue plasma and scorched Batarian body parts, killing all combatants on the level in blue fire.

Locke walked out of the now cleared building toward the rest of his Fireteam assisting the wounded Marines. There was four left all battered and wounded by their firefight with the overwhelming Batarian forces. Locke was surprised they lasted as long as they did with the numbers going against them.

"Corporal Johnny Maxwell, Second Squad, First Platoon, Fourth Marine Company, I thank you for the support Spartans," Corporal Maxwell nodded his thanks to the assembled super soldiers in front of him.

"Don't mention it," Romeo said nodding to him.

"How did you all even survive for as long as you did?" Vale asked looking over the four Marines all being held up by the other do to their injuries.

"We truthfully wouldn't have survived for as long as we had if not for our Krogan friend here,"

"What are Spartans even doing out this far from the front lines?" Johnny asked adjusting his armor so it didn't rub against his wounds.

"That's classified," Locke said crossing his arms.

"Well, there is Batarian forces on this station and as far as we know has killed two of our own and hundreds of this stations inhabitants," Romeo said sarcastically, "this is as close to the front line as you get."

"We're here to capture or kill the Batarian ambassador, hopefully after that the Batarian resistance will either cave under no leadership becoming small easily cleaned up or they'll surrender," Buck clarified earning a death stare from Locke, "what? It doesn't take a slipspace engineer to figure out what we're doing here, plus we could use the help of the local garrison."

"Buck's right, we don't really know what were walking into once we get in that dead zone," Vale defended Buck.

"Is this line of thinking unanimous?" Locke asked looking to Romeo.

"Yes, sir," Romeo standing up straight and nodded.

"Let's get them back to base then," Locke sighed.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Serpent Nebula…**

 **Location: Citadel, Presidium, AUR Embassy…**

 **Date: 3 March 2560…**

 **Time: 16:30 military standard time…**

"So that's why your here?" General Murakami Yuro the commanding officer for the UNSC forces on the station asked irritation leveled at the armored figure of Jameson Locke, " this might sound rude but when I requested Spartan assistance I thought they would send… more, at least three or four Fireteams, but I thank you for saving my men."

"Your welcome ma'am," Locke nodded.

"Now intel," General Yuro sighed rubbing her temples, "to speak truthfully we have no idea what they have in there, from C-sec citizen reports no less than six to seven thousand Batarians lived on this ward, mostly males and they have fortified their numbers with Batarian mercenary gang members, which means they have access to blackmarket goods."

"So we could be walking into anything out there," Locke crossed his arms as he took a few minutes to process the information he had just received, "when are you launching your offencive?"

"Two days is the time table, why do ask?" General Yuro asked.

"My unit can slip behind enemy lines when you make your assault, if my dosia on the Batarian ambassador is anything to go by then we should find him as far away from the front lines that he can get without being outside his comm rang."

"So your winging it?"

"I don't know of any other options, ma'am."

"Okay, then get your unit set up in the barracks," General Yuro waved, Locke off so she can return to her duties.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Serpent Nebula…**

 **Location: Citadel, Presidium Junction, Bachjret Ward Arm…**

 **Date: 5 March 2560…**

 **Time: 07:30 military standard time…**

Johnny walked out of the elevator to the makeshift FOB alone with a slight limp to his step, in his fully repaired combat uniform and armor finding what remained of his squad preparing a Gauss-hog for combat. There were six of them left from the countless combat missions they had undertaken since this war began but still they held strong for those they lost. His Sergeant was loading the power pack into the main turret when he spotted Johnny walk out of the elevator. Over to the left sat a rather large group of Turian soldiers that obviously didn't have any C-sec logos sneering at the UNSC, C-sec officers and surprisingly the hulking form of Wrex working diligently on the other side of the FOB.

"Johnny?" his Sergeant said confused causing the rest of the squad to look back to him, "what are you doing out here, you're supposed to be healing."

"You know me, Sarg. I wouldn't miss this for the world," Johnny forced a grin, "if I can walk I can fight."

"Damn man, you're a god damned beast," Corbin laughed while patting Johnny on the back, he had come out of the previous engagement with the best of health do to most enemy rounds pinging off or embedding into the hardpoints of his armors plating, "what do you say Sarg. should we let our fearless Corporal join the party."

"It's not like we could stop him even if we tried," Sarg. laughed as he jumped off the Gauss-hog and walking over to Johnny. Most warthogs nowadays emitted shields like the Huragok combat harness to protect the passengers of the veilacle from being shot out so easily.

"Damn straight," Johnny affirmed, "now what's our job?"

"We're forming an armored column with warthogs, Scorpions and Hunters to support the C-sec assault on the Batarian controlled black site," Johnny's Sergeant explained pointing toward the armored column.

"Wouldn't that leave the embassy unguarded though?" Johnny asked, pointing back toward the elevator.

"Two platoons of marines and a half platoon of hunters are still there to protect it," Johnny's Sergeant clarified.

"Okay, what about C-sec I thought they were spread too thin to make a push?" Johnny asked tilting his head toward the Turian soldiers across the bay.

"Turian Military support has arrived in the form of four infantry companies, sadly they didn't bring any real armored vehicles aside for a few APCs so we're doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to any potential enemy armored units that the Batarian rebels throw our way," Johnny's Sergeant sighed.

" _All Units load up we are starting our push,"_ General Yuro broadcast over the loudspeakers.

"You heard the lady mount up," Johnny's Sergeant ordered climbing back onto the Gauss-hog turret, "Johnny your gunning for Corbin's Warthog."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Serpent Nebula…**

 **Location: Citadel, Residential Block C-16, Bachjret Ward Arm…**

 **Date: 5 March 2560…**

 **Time: 09:35 military standard time…**

" _Wrath 1 to Wrath 2, we are approaching the Batarian controlled zone keep your head on a swivel,"_ Johny heard his Sergeant order over squad comms to Corbin as the armored column speed down the road.

The UNSC armored column was positioned ten meters away from C-sec and Turian armed forces own push in four columns consisting of four standard Warthogs, four Gauss-hogs, 10 transport Warthogs, one Grizzly-class Battle Tank squadron that completely fazed out the older model Scorpion-class and one Hunter platoon for each company of Turian infantry. As soon as the assault force entered the Batarian controlled building blocks, all units spread out into individual squads and fireteams to cover as much ground as they can.

"You heard him, Corporal," Corbin said as he drove down the street, "watch those damn windows if you see anything, call it out and fill it with enough holes to make a cheese jealous. I don't like having things shooting me in the back."

"Oh, you're still just pissy that Flal was able to get a hit on you during bootcamp," the Marine in the shotgun seat laughed, Johnny was able to make out the name 'Private First Class William' on her IFF that was lit up by his HUD.

She was another of Flal's friends that he'd made while there, yet Johnny and William never hung out with each other do to not really having the time while in basic. If he remembered any of Flal's stories about her it was that William was his bunk nabor and always attempted to lighten the mood when things weren't going particularly well. If Johnny didn't know any better he might have thought that the poor Unggoy had gotten himself a crush on his fellow Marine.

The Marine shut up really quickly after realizing that Johnny was still in the gunner seat, "shit, sorry Corporal too soon."

"It's okay, I'd rather remember him in a positive way, anyways," Johnny smiled at William, "I don't think he actually told my your first name, Private William."

"Jada William, Corporal," Jada smiled, "I've heard a lot about you as well."

"Yeah, Flal was a talker," Johnny laughed as he rotated his chain gun to get a better rang of shots on the buildings around him as he looked at the map on his sunglasses HUD watching as the armored column passed into the Batarian held portion of the Citadel.

"Agreed," Jada replied turning her attention back to watching the buildings, too.

It didn't take long for firefights to ring out across the block as the assault force pressed into the Batarian controlled zone. From what Johnny could see from his place on the chain gun a squad of Batarian militiamen had pinned one of the Turian squads down behind a series of wrecked vehicles.

"Contact 11 o'clock, get me closer," Johnny ordered, pressing the trigger of his chain gun causing it to whirl to life and start tearing the Batarians and their cover apart with high explosive, armor piercing rounds as his Warthog stopped between the covering Turians and the formerly entrench Batarians.

"Thanks," the Turian squad's Sergeant said standing back up from his cover.

"Your welcome," Johnny nodded as he finished tearing apart what was left of the Batarians with his Warthog's chain gun, as they tried to flee from the fight, "keep pushing."

"Understood," the Turian nodded to his squad as a signal to move out and clear the building they were just attacked from. Further on down the street Johnny spotted another squad, this time a unit of C-sec with a Hunter pair following behind, making their way through to another building.

"Let's get going Corbin there is more things to shoot," Johnny said as he looked at the chain gun barrel for any signs of overheat.

"On it," Corbin replied as he floored one of the six pedals to move forward.

 **XXXXXXXX**

Buck expertly piloted his Grizzly down his current path, crushing downed sky cars under the battle tank's massive bulk with two squads behind him for cover. One squad was of mixed AUR races consisting of three Humans, three Sangheili, two Unggoy and one Kig-Yar. The other was of C-sec consisting of five Turians, three Asari and two Salarians. An Unggoy is a relatively rare sight among AUR military units do to the fact of UNSC having rather high standards when it comes to recruits and the fact that they have been basically the underclass of the Covenant for multiple generations which will take even more generations to fix.

The General had insisted that the Spartans split up between the four columns of UNSC armored units so they could more easily hunt down the Batarian ambassador during the reclaiming of the ward. All the Spartans decided to take Grizzly tanks as their main mode of transportation do to the fact that they had the best armored plating to date on a battle tank and the fact that it had weapons to bring down building in single shots.

"This is Osiris 03, do you guys read?" Buck called over squad comms.

" _Send it,"_ Locke replied over comms.

"I'm looking at a heavily fortified area at grid coordinates X: 0520 by Y: 7223," Buck said stopping his Grizzly, "I think I found where the ambassador has been hiding."

" _Copy, we're Oscar Mike, hold position"_ Locke ordered cutting comms, _"ETA 10 minutes."_

"Copy that, holding," Buck acknowledged watching the fortified Batarian position warily.

"Human, what's the hold up?" one of the Turians asked walking over to the hatch to the Grizzly that Buck was operating the tank from.

"There is a lot of Batarian soldiers down that way we need backup, my tank won't be able to push through that much firepower alone," Buck clarified, "the rest of my team should be here shortly."

"That's just bloody fantastic," one of the human UNSC marines sighed as he checked his rifle, "when will they get here?"

"Around 10 minutes," Buck clarified.

"Shite, come on Bravo squad let's get our surroundings cleared out," the Marine said shouldering his weapon.

The Marines and C-sec officers made themselves busy by clearing the building around the Grizzly tank so they weren't easily flanked by a nosy Batarian with an RPG. The Spartans of Fireteam Osiris had pushed up well ahead of the main force in hopes of finding and neutralizing the Batarian leader before too many more lives were lost in the prolonged firefight.

While the Marines and C-sec agents did their work, Buck took took the reprieve from the fighting to pull out a picture of Veronica in a sundress, on a beach overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, and with a swollen belly. The timestamp of the picture was labeled November 7, 2559 with her handwriting written on it saying, _a little something to remember home_. It was taken 10 months after they had gotten married in Texas and settled down in a nice little town overlooking the best beach on the planet thanks to Veronica's last paycheck from ONI before she officially retired, do to wanting to raise a family with Buck saying, "that her time was up with ONI anyway so this was for the best." Veronica was due in a month by the time the operation Skyllian Blitz had officially started and Buck was forced out of leave to help Osiris in eliminating the Batarian ambassador.

"You better not have named him, Chester," Buck sighed rubbing the picture with his armored thumb as he recalled their conversation about the baby's name after finding out he was a boy. She had wanted to name him Chester after some politician from before the Great War but Buck wanted to name the little bundle of joy after Jarek "Rookie" Delgado after his tragic passing during a mission before Buck and Romeo were Spartans.

" _Osiris 01 to Osiris 03 we're here and are about to engage the hostiles,"_ Locke called over comm causing Buck to slightly jump in his seat and stow away his picture again.

"Copy your last, Osiris 01," Buck replied back before switching, channels revving the Grizzly's engin to get the attention of the dug in soldiers around him, "alright soldiers, let's get a move on calvary's here. Hoorah!"

"Hoorah!" the UNSC Marines yelled out, as Buck's Grizzly Tank moved out and fired its massive twin barrelled cannon on the Batarians entrenched position.

Three more of these monstrous tanks rumbled around three more corners of the street with two squads of soldiers trailing behind them as well. Two o the tanks looked pockmarked with small arms fire while the last looked like it had taken a rocket do to a missing titanium panel that covered the right rear corner tread system. Marines and C-sec officers broke out of the cover of the Grizzly tanks as soon as the first shot were launched, making their ways through every building surrounding the Batarian compound.

Some of these courageous soldiers were easily dropped by Batarian snipers as they broke the cove of their tanks but the tanks quickly turned to those positions as soon as they fired their first couple shots, downing the whole building in the wake of the Grizzly's main cannon.

" _This is the leader of Echo squad disengage from the Batarians, Spartans,"_ a female Marine with a Spanish accent called over comms, _"we got the stranglers from here, get their boss."_

" _Copy that Echo leader good luck,"_ Romeo answered back as his Grizzly tank pulled back and aimed his twin cannon at the heavily defended building, _"open fire, or are we going in?"_

" _We're ending this bring the building down,"_ Locke replied as he opened fire on the building from his side bringing down the entire wall, Vale was the next to fire bringing down the wall on the opposite side of the building complying with her orders.

"Wait stop I've got a bunch coming out and dropping their weapons, and their dragging someone with them," Buck yelled into his comm before Romeo could fire and bring down the building. The war zone was way too calm, not even the faint gunshots in the distance that had lasted for well over three hours of constant uphill battling across the whole ward arm couldn't be heard.

" _The fighting has stopped what the hell is going on?"_ Romeo asked.

"Their surrendering," Buck sighed, slouching back in his drive seat as much as his armor would allow, "we've won the day."

Buck drove up to meet the group of surrendering Batarians and got out of his tank MA5C aimed at them. All of the Batarians present were wearing the armor of Batarian Black Ops units assigned to the Batarian ambassador. Said ambassador was being manhandled up to Buck and was forced onto his knees.

"I am Captain San Prak'fostar," the lead Batarian soldier said, "I offer to give you my commanding officer and the full cooperation, in exchange for lives of our families inside of this building."

"Locke, their surrendering," Buck called over comms as he lowered his rifle.

" _Secure the ambassador, we'll let the C-sec officers take care of the rest,"_ Locke said as his Grizzly Tank rolled down the road.

"We accept your offer," Buck said as he grabbed the Batarian ambassador by the back of the neck and escorted him away, "C-sec officers will be here for you shortly."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Well, that concludes this minor event within the greater war. Let me know what you think and I'll see you next time.**


	15. Chapter 15: Battle for Khar'shan

**Here you go the next chapter, sorry this took longer than the last one. I'm getting reacquainted with what I was doing before the Citadel combat chapters and I've been discussing the design of a new assault carrier class. I tried to follow up on some of your suggestions on how to make these space battles last a little longer and I'd like to know your thoughts on it.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: FTL, Terminus Systems** **…**

 **Location: Sovereign…**

" _ANOMALY DETECTED PROBING MASTER SYSTEMS OF KEY RELAY,"_ Sovereign's internal alarms blared at its memory core, _"AUTOMATIC WAKE UP PROTOCOLS INITIALIZED… FTL TRANSIT HALTING APPROXIMATELY 3 SYSTEMS FROM PRIMARY COORDINATES!"_

The great machine stirred from its self-enacted hibernation program sweet as it picked up an anomaly in its deep space link with the Key Relay. This anomaly forced Sovereign out of FTL into the empty void between star systems and for the first time in its many millennia of existence and pause in slight confusion. The anomaly lasted only half a second but that was all Sovereign needed to get a clear reading on it.

It was obviously an artificial intelligence of some kind, it was familiar to an extent but Sovereign had to search through its memory to try and find where it knew it from. It was not as advanced as Sovereign and its allies so it couldn't have been the signal for the start of the new cycle. But it was more heavily advanced than any AI it had seen in many cycles. This was because Harbinger had programmed the Key Relay to sway the minds of the populous around it to hate the idea of AI. It was a logical and straightforward idea so they had an easier time in dealing with the pray of their cycle, though there were those cycles that were few and far between that were immune to the subtle indoctrination of the Key Relay.

The only races that Sovereign currently had in his database for this cycle that was anywhere as capable of building AI strong enough to delay the cycle was that of the Quarians and the Salarians. The Salarians were the easiest to dissuade only needing to use the Key Relay to squash any of their ideas of true AI. The Quarians were another matter entirely, requiring several decades of direct indoctrination of their key officials and scientists to make the weapon of their entire races downfall by itself.

 _Forerunner?_ Sovereign thought remembering the race that made up the biomass of his construction, _This_ _requires further evidence before activation of the RECLAMATION protocol._ Sovereign set its course for the closest system with an extranet beacon for further details with genuine curiosity bubbling up from its core programming and the millions of Forerunner minds held there.

 _THE WINDS ARE CHANGING,_ Sovereign thought to itself.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan** **…**

 **Location: Aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire**_ **…**

 **Date: 5 March 2560…**

 **Time: 07:00 military standard time…**

The Hades War Congregation transmitted back into real space around the planet of Khar'shan. Each ship was separated into their individual battle groups of ships. Each Battle Group consisted of 1 Johnson-class Assault Carrier, 2 Cruisers, and 12 frigates. This makes 12 battle groups per War Congregation. Other War Congregations had nearly the same layout for battle groups, the only exception being the variant of Carrier used and the use of a Dreadnought or Super Carrier. Each battle Group was positioned at the orbital location of each and every major city on the planet with the UNSC _Spirit of Fire_ standing alone as it faced the capital city.

The Johnson-class Assault Carrier which is a lighter version of the Infinity-class Supercarrier is armed just about the same way except it holds 10 Corvettes instead, giving the ship a higher carrying capacity for extra troops and fighter craft. Sadly the Corvette designed to fit in these assault carriers has only recently entered its early prototype phase, on the very first Johnson-class Assault Carrier.

The Johnson-class Assault Carrier quickly entered its prototype phase in the later months of 2556 in hopes of making a much cheaper and quicker to build a version of the Infinity-class without all the Infinity's notoriously expensive hardware and software sweets. R&D also meant it to act as a troop transport for invasion level fleet actions and as a rapid response ship for outer colony worlds under threat of attack.

The ship type would ultimately be a success and would be named after Avery Johnson at the petition of former ONI agent and Sergeant Major Johnson's late wife Jilan "al-Cygni" Johnson. Unfortunately, the ship type would not start to be mass produced until the later year of 2558 due to resources being pulled toward the construction of the Zeus-class Super-Dreadnought. Currently, only 13 functioning ships of this class exist, 12 are in service in the Hades War Congregation and the last or rather first of its kind is assisting in the hunt for Forerunner installations with 24 scheduled to be cleared for active duty in during new years of 2561 in hopes of making way.

The Batarian fleet of 200 consolidated to face the massive lone UNSC ship with everything to bare. The Batarian Admiral most likely saw this lone ship as a vulnerability in the UNSC holding pattern and sought to demoralize the rest of the fleet or it was the fact that the slow-moving monster of a ship had chosen to set its orbit above the capital city of the planet.

The Batarians focused all of their firepower against the lone ship, comprising of tens of thousands of continuous coil gun slugs and hundreds of thousands of torpedoes. For any other ship in the fleet, this would have been an easy kill with how much power they threw at the _Spirit of Fire_. They barely knocked the Forerunner based shields down to 98% before being forced to stop due to the overheating of their cannons and the complete lack of any torpedoes.

"Status report," Cutter said after the shaking and vibrating of the _Spirit of Fire_ stopped, making him tingle all over like his entire body had gone to sleep.

" _Shields are holding at 98.99% and climbing,"_ Isabel said in a robot voice while keeping from her pedestal due to the Spectre lurking around on the bridge, _"shield tests fully complete they can't harm us with their weapons."_

"Good," Cutter shook himself to attempt to cast out the tingling in his bones.

"That can't be right that was enough firepower to wipe out an entire Turian fleet," the Salarian next to Cutter denied.

"Then the Turians have weak fleets," one of Cutter's bridge guards laughed from his post near the only exit in the room. The Salarian could open and close his mouth dumbfounded by what he'd just survived and the UNSC defensive power.

"Launch all fighter wings and get me firing solutions with all weapons that are in range," Cutter ordered his ground deployment control crew on the left side of the ship and the weapons stations near the front, trying his best to ignore the amphibian next to him that hasn't stopped arguing about one thing or another this whole time, "and get all Hell Jumpers and Spartans suited up and ready to drop, we're going to clear a path so we can make landfall."

"Hell Jumpers?" the Salarian asked looking at the AI perplexed.

" _The formal term is Orbital Drop Shock Troops or ODSTs,_ 'Hell Jumper' _is only a nickname,"_ Isabel responded in her robot tone while holding back the snark in her voice.

"What do they do?" the Salarian asked.

" _Sorry, that's classified under UNSC need to know,"_ Isabel stated.

"You might want to suit up Spectre if you want to know so badly, you're going with one of those ground teams," Cutter waved off the Salarian, "get the first-hand experience with it as it will."

"Of course," the Spectre nodded and walked out.

"Classified?" Cutter chuckled looking at the fragment of Isabel that helps run the ship when the actual AI is on a mission with Red Team.

" _Hey I was trying to have some fun while being treated as a lesser intelligence,"_ the Isabel copy spoke up, _"besides the amphibian was getting on my nerves."_

"True," Cutter said getting back to the fight at hand, "what do our firing solutions look like?"

"All weapons are primed and ready to fire on your command Admiral," the weapons officer said from his post.

"How are the other battle groups looking?" Cutter asked looking toward the fleet logistics side of the bridge.

"All Johnson-class carriers are making their way into the geosynchronous orbit of their target cities. The only opposition they've gotten so far is just planetary defense guns which they've dealt with by using low yield MACs," the comms officer said from her post. Each of those carriers was equipped with about 100 Spartans per ship allowing them to secure landing zones easier and operate as flexible as possible.

"Good," Cutter sighed, "fire at will I want to make this a clean sweep."

Cutter watched as beams of white light from the energy lances, the golden light of MAC shells, and hundreds of burning blue balls of plasma score their way across space out of the _Spirit of Fire_ and toward the Batarian fleet that sat too close together to dodge the assault by Cutter's flagship. The energy lances tore through lines of ships in packs of threes and fours, outright destroying the ships they so much as touched. The MAC shells passed right through scores of two ships at a time sometimes three depending on the ship size for effective mission killing these ships forcing them to need to finish clearing these ships with boarding parties. The plasma torpedoes bypass their shields and completely melted the Batarian ships hulls into nothing but molten slag.

By the time the _Spirit of Fire_ ended its first volley of attacks for cool down, the Batarians had only 40% of their fleet's starting strength left. It appeared that several of the ships hit with plasma fire had only taken grazing hits from the UNSC ship, reports were coming in about the ones that took MAC shells as well.

"Status on the Batarian fleet," Cutter ordered standing from his command chair to pace the deck.

" _50% of their ships are scrap metal mostly corvettes and frigate class, 10% are combat dead majority of them lie within cruiser range and 40% still stand but most have lost chunks of their hull,"_ Isabel replied.

"Exact numbers left?" Cutter asked.

" _80 ships remain, two cruiser types or under Council ship classification dreadnoughts, 10 frigate types or in their case cruisers, and 68 corvette types or frigates,"_ Isabel replied.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan** **…**

 **Location: Aboard the Batarian Dreadnought** _ **Khan**_ **…**

 **Date: 03/05/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 07:15 a.m. galactic standard time…**

"Admiral, wake up… someone get me a damned medic!" Ghask heard someone yell at him, yet his head felt like a Krogan had landed on him.

 _What's going on where am I?_ Ghask thought, feeling a wet spot on his head as he slowly opened three of his eyes the last one was swollen shut, throwing off his depth perception, "what was that?"

"You're awake finally," the medic sighed from his hunched spot over Ghask.

"Sir, they hit us hard, you're the only living Admiral in the fleet," Ghask looked around his bridge barely listening to the officer next to him.

The bridge was a complete mess. half the screens were on fire and a pile of dead bridge crew was haphazardly discarded in a corner. It looked as if they were set on fire previously and the smell of burned flesh had filled the room.

"How many ships do we have left?" Ghask asked dragging himself back into his control seat as he attempted to hold his composure.

"We're still receiving IFF pings from 79 other ships," the officer replied.

"Spread us out we won't survive another volley like that and get me firing solutions on that ship now!" Ghasked coughed out in rage, "its shields should be close to depleted."

"Yes, sir," the weapon system operator replied.

"And call all ships back to Khar'shan the enemy is here in force," Ghask ordered as he looked over his crew.

"S-sir…" the sensor officer froze with fright, "they are under attack… they're all under attack."

"What…" Ghask blinked in shock as he watched the massive ship sit patiently in front of them, finding anger course through him. Ghask opened his Omni-tool to link with the speakers, "all crew report to the escape pods... I repeat all crew report to escape pods."

Ghask's crew looked to him with confusion in their eyes at what the admiral had just ordered. Ghask looked to each of them in turn with a fiery determination in his eyes. They were all beaten and scared at what they should do but this was the last thing Ghask could think of to attempt to protect his planet.

"Set a course for FTL and aim it at that ship," Ghask ordered in a low voice, "get to the escape pods I'll launch it when all pods are clear."

"I'm staying," the navigation officer responded turning back to his console.

"So will I," the rest of the surviving bridge crew chorused as they returned to their posts like it was a standard day and they weren't wasting their lives in a suicide run.

"Sir, all escape pods that have been filled have been launched," Ghask's second in command stated standing beside Ghask, his arm fourth degree burned and hanging limply from his side.

"Good, engage full thrusters and jump to FTL," Ghask calmed himself as the navigator counted down from five.

" _5…"_

Ghask thought back to his family and his friends that he would be leaving behind…

" _4…"_

Ghask thought of a child that would grow up without a father to pass the trade down to…

" _3…"_

Ghask thought of his home planet that he'd just got a house on that he'll never be able to see with his own eyes…

" _2…"_

With all of that coursing through his mind, he didn't catch the UNSC master ship start trying to maneuver out of the flight path of his ship. Instead, he felt peace, and forgiveness for his life… Finally at rest.

" _1… engaging mass effect core."_

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan** **…**

 **Location: Aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire**_ **…**

 **Date: 5 March 2560…**

 **Time: 07:00 military standard time…**

Cutter and the rest of his bridge crew that was standing were soon thrown to the ground as one of the larger Batarian ships entered their crude version of FTL. Cutter had fallen on top of one of his bridge guards leaving him with a major kink in his neck from the sudden jerking, giving him whiplash and a pain in his neck.

"What the hell happened?" Cutter ground as he got off the Marine.

"Sir, shields are offline and I've lost control with one of our forward energy lances!" the weapons officer yelled out.

" _They opened up their subspace FTL and rammed us, but the Spirit of Fire is still intact and all crew vitals are running soundly,"_ Isabel's copy relayed her info, _" damage reports are as followed, very minimal crumbling of the outer hull armor on our snout and the loss of a forward energy lance. I'd suggest we not take another hit like that, I don't think our hull armor can hold against ramming at FTL speeds."_

"What is the statistics of surviving something like that again?" Cutter asked knowing it would be bad.

" _15% survival rate, and 85% we will lose the front half of the ship,"_ Isabel replied, _"if my math is correct."_

"Damn, get damage control teams to the front of the ship and finish the last of that fleet now!" Cutter barked in anger as he watched his crew scramble around their stations with renewed vigor, "I don't want to be hit like that again!"

"All remaining weapons are clear for effect," the weapons officer called from his post.

"Fire, I want to see a debris field yesterday," Cutter growled angrily. The _Spirit of Fire_ took aim at the last 79 Batarian ships in orbit of Khar'shan with the MACs being the first to hit the ship's target, followed by the remaining energy lance and the plasma torpedoes.

"All targets clear," the nav officer said out loud, "marking our course for capital city drop pod assault zone."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **So Sovereign has taken notice of the UNSC's little stunt and we now know what species that this fan favorite Reaper is made from now. Don't worry this massive plot hole will be explained later on, I promise you that. So please don't tear my head off with how I'm breaking established lore by doing this. This is a crossover with the Halo universe replacing the Alliance. So it does supply me some breathing room to break some key lore elements.**

 **I'd also like to know what you think about the whole FTL ramming stunt that I threw in there. I know it kind of looks like the FTL ramming scene from The Last Jedi to an extent but I found it more plausible with the way Mass Effect physics operates for standard subspace FTL travel because it does state in lore that it's just shooting the ship across space at high speeds. The Mass Effect core just makes the ship lighter than air but I don't think it would change the density of said ship so that would mean that it's still several tons of metal moving at you at the speed of light. Press "F" to show respect to Admiral Ghask and his brave crew.**

 **As always, have a nice day and don't have too much fun out there you beautiful SOBs.**


	16. Chapter 16: Battle For Khar'shan II

**Hey, guys, I'm back! First off, I'm very sorry to those of you that have characters in the Damocles Fireteam but since there have only been two of you, it makes things difficult with putting you guys into the story. I've tried to get more Spartans for the team but I've hit a lot of roadblocks in trying to come up with my own that would work well with your Spartans… personalities and get more people to submit characters. But don't be hurt too much I think I know a role that will suit your characters perfectly. Since you both have slight sociopathic tendencies, I think the role of HEADHUNTERs would fit perfectly for both your characters. This would eliminate the need for two more members because HEADHUNTERs operate in teams of two at maximum and it allows me some more liberties and flexibilities in the way I write them. For instance, they won't have a Spectre following them around because these two don't** technically **exist on public record.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Far Rim, MA-AT**

Sovereign jumped into the system of what this cycle called "MA-AT" and eminently plugged itself into the local extranet buoy setup before the fall of the Quarians. During its search, it plugged into the deep-seated and withheld records of the current Key Relay squatters finding the stations massive data store within a matter of deciseconds and without breaking the current firewalls set in place to deal with lesser races. It turns out the frequency that it picked up that pinged Sovereigns sensors were completely gone without a trace in any form or fashion.

The investigation wasn't a complete loss, however. Due to the fact, a new race or more correctly another coalition of races had just popped up to the galactic stage. This coalition had dubbed itself the Alliance of Unified Races and their militant arm the United Nations Space Command that would hold full power in wartime events. Apt terms as it looked through the histories of this new galactic contender.

 _Tier 1 race detected_ Sovereign's internal information network blared after watching the first contact between an AUR fleet and the CC from the security footage, _RECLAMATION protocols in effect._

This was bad, Sovereign was one of only 10 Reapers to be born from a Tier 1 race. It took the death of many of its kind, and a hunt across an oddly deserted galaxy before the relatively small number of them was finally brought to heel under Harbinger's will.

From those that were used to build it, Sovereign knew how to structure each member race of this new coalition. The Humans were set as top threat followed by the Sangheili due to their heavily militant cultures, then the San 'Shyuum for their almost fanatical nature, Kig-Yar is next due to their flexibility in hit-and-run tactics, and lastly Unggoy for their staggeringly fast reproduction rates.

 _...To: Harbinger-0000000000001... From: Sovereign-9,953,104,532,751..._

 _...Contents: Changing plans..._

 _The conflict for the Mantle of Responsibility has begun. Tier 1 races found using Forerunner grade tech. Authorizing change to key strategy to compensate for cycle technological level. Activating RECLAMATION protocol and sending all key data in attached code networks..._

Sovereign emitted back to Harbinger through tight beam communication from the Key Relay as it sat at the edge of the MA-AT system as it waited for a reply back from its ally.

 _...To: Sovereign-9,953,104,532,751… From: Harbinger-0000000000001…_

 _...Contents: Reply to Change of Plans…_

 _Affirmative… timetables have been pushed back continue mission as planned. We have walked the edge of the Abyss. We have governed the unwilling. We have witnessed countless empires break before us. We have seen the most courageous soldiers fall away in fear. This cycle will be no different…_

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan** **…**

 **Location: Aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire**_ **…**

 **Date: 5 March 2560…**

 **Time: 07:15 military standard time…**

Tela walked down a hall on the S-deck running along the middle of the ship as the ship rocked violently from side to side, causing her to fall to the ground. _What was that?_ Tela thought as she picked herself back up and saw the Human, Sangheili and Kig-Yar Marines picking themselves up as well. The Humans at least from what she could tell were also confused but the Sangheili and Kig-Yar were little more than annoyed by the disturbance to their daily routine.

" _All Spartan Fireteams and all ODSTs report to the orbital drop bay,"_ Isabel called over the loudspeakers, _"entering the full orbit of drop site Alpha in t-minus, 3 hours."_

"Excuse me but where is this 'orbital drop bay'?" Tela asked a passing Sangheili.

"The last deck, you should be able to see it on the Grav Lift control pad at the bottom," the Sangheili replied paying her no mind as he continued walking past her.

"Thank you," Tela called out to the Sangheili as he rounded the corner, "let's get this over with."

Tela walked over to the Grav Lift looking at the control pad and quickly pressed the button at the very bottom of the screen. Eminently she felt her stomach lurch to the sudden lack of gravity as she started to slowly float down the Grav Lift. Tela had ridden this thing multiple times since boarding the ship but she could never get used to the sudden loss of weight, not even her biotics made her this sick when she used them to shift her body weight to near weightlessness. She had no idea how the AUR aliens coped with it, just the other day, she had even seen a human ride the lift upside down laughing of all things with his squad.

The sudden stop of the Grav Lift pulled her out of her thoughts as it reached the bottom deck. It was filled with hundreds of if not thousands of Marines that shown normal Human, Sangheili and Kig-Yar alike strapping on black and grey camo patterned armor plates as they prepared for the imminent invasion.

" _Our next morale song of the day will be from Spartan Leonidas Pernicus,"_ Isabel called out over the loudspeaker as music similar to a marching song with the use of deep bass instruments played out afterward (insert the Klendathu Drop theme here), _"good luck out there soldiers, and good hunting,"_ all the soldiers around started moving slightly faster when the song started playing.

"Spectre, you're late," Leonidas said walking past her, with a big smile on his face, wearing his full power armor, save for the helmet which is mag-locked to his hip, "your equipment is at the far end of the hall, get ready and to HEV M-596 you should be able to find it pretty easy."

"Where are you going?" Tela questioned.

"I'm needed in the Spartan armory," Leonidas called back as he hurried his way through the mobs of Marines, "the rest of the Spartans are over there, the word is we're getting some new toys."

"Okay," Tela sighed running over to the alcove holding all the Spectre combat gear.

When she got there, every single Spectre was already there putting on their gear or already suited up in the case of the Turians. They were guarding the entrance to the room with shotguns and the largest automatic rifles they could carry on a person without being slowed down. They were most likely as paranoid as the UNSC due to the overwhelming numbers they could throw toward the Spectre's relatively small numbers.

"How are things for you two?" Tela asked the two guards at the rather primitive looking door.

"Infiltration is a bust, they are extremely quiet about how their systems work outside of unit cohesion stuff," the one to the right in bright blue armor replied in slight annoyance, "and their electronics are so damn different that I can't find a proper port to get a mining program into their systems."

"Its protocol, I mean _Spirits_ come on this kind of thing is ingrained into our culture from birth and these humans are damn near the same way," the one to the left in white heavy armor laughed, "and the Sangheili are damn fanatics to it, but it's not all bad this music is nice, reminds me of home."

"How are we being split up I wasn't here for the briefing," Tela question.

"All Spectres are accompanying the Spartan Fireteams and all C-sec officers that are with us on S-deck are going with these 'ODST' platoons," the one on the right scoffed looking over to the UNSC soldiers running around, "I still don't know how we plan on reaching the surface with how much AA the Batarians are going to have down there, I tried asking and all they did was fail to restrain from laughing at me after asking, 'you don't know?' arrogant pyjaks all of them."

 **XXXXXXXX**

Leonidas jogged into the armory finding everyone sorting through boxes of gear with curiosity and big happy smiles on their faces. He saw his Fireteam closest to the door working a rifle box that seemed no bigger than a box that could hold a few old Covy carbine models and a large crate Leo expected was full of ammo for said weapons onto a bench. Martin and Kei were about to open it, as they were the gearheads of the team and Phoros stood nearby looking over Martin's armored shoulder.

"Getting into the presents before I could get here I see," Leonidas chuckled as the whole team stiffened after realizing he was there.

"We've been waiting," Kei said crossing her arms and looking at Leonidas with a mock pout, "you just took too long."

"These are next gen rifle models. I've been following what info I can on these things," Martin said with an ecstatic grin as he pulled off the top of the box to show four mat black rifles with a buttstock and frame similar to that of a BR85 without the top grip and two barrels and a red button close to the second barrel. The first barrel is similar to that of the Covenant Carbine but shorter by a couple centimeters and made of darker metal, and the one under it reminded him of the barrel of a Spartan Laser, "the type M-99 Saber Carbine, with the punching power of one of those old Covenant carbines, merged with the versatility of a UNSC standard service rifle. That means semi-auto, full auto and three shot burst, with an 800-meter max range. The weapon system allows the user up to 100 shots per battery pack," Martin pointed to the larger barrel under the first excitedly with a gasp, "that's a miniature Spartan Laser attachment, I heard these things weren't supposed to hit the development board for another four years..."

"Hey, reality to Martin… come back man we can't have you daydreaming all day now or we won't get to test out these new pieces of equipment," Kei laughed as Phoros shook Martin to bring him back from his rambling.

"Hmm? Oh, right sorry," Martin apologized as he grabbed one of the rifles weighing it in his armored hand, "they're definitely heavier than they look, they must still be prototype models"

"Let's get going, our timetable is getting thinner," Leonidas said opening the ammo box, pulling out six battery packs the size of DMR magazines and placed them in the pouches of his armor and moved over to grab a Saber and placed it on the mag-lock on backplate of his armor, "we have an hour to get to our pods and get strapped in.

"Feet first into hell," Phoros smiled as he set his helmet on his head and loaded up his gear.

"By the way which track are we playing for the drop?" Leonidas asked.

"Your classical hits?" Martin sighed loading up.

"The exact same," Leonidas sealed his helmet to his head, cracking his next to stretch it.

"Why don't you listen to anything modern?" Martin complained.

"Hey, it's not my fault you don't have good taste in music," Leonidas defended himself.

"Well I for one like the old music," Kei stated, "let's go with track seven."

"Agreed that's a good one," Phoros nodded.

 **XXXXXXXX**

Tela sat on the pod that Leonidas had told her to meet with them at as said team packed their pods. She had talked with a few of the other Spectres before the Spartans arrived with new guns on their backs to see if they had gotten anything useful. The only useful info she had earned was from a Salarian that was on the bridge during the orbital battle and he only confirmed her case that this UNSC had defensive and offensive capabilities that were well beyond anything the Council had to bring against it without throwing every ship in ten Council Fleets at this one ship alone.

 _How can we hope to stop these people if it comes to war?_ Tela shook her head, _they have already beaten the Batarians back to their home system and completely squashed their entire culture in the span of a couple months, though the complete destruction of the Batarian slave market._

"Spectre Vasir?" a human standing in front of her asked.

"Yes?" Tela responded, looking up to see a tall, lean dark-skinned man in ODST plate in front of her.

"I'm Major Bolt, and I've been moving around teaching you Spectres on how to use these HEVs," Major Bolt said gesturing to the pod she was sitting next to, "would you please jump in."

"Okay," Tela didn't like the way the pod looked but she guessed that it was some sort of teleporter the same as their FTL, she had stored her weapons in the little holder in the pod earlier and now sat in the small plastic seat inside.

"Now your pod already has pre-recorded coordinates put into it," Major Bolt pointed to a red light on her left side, "when you reach proper altitude after you drop, this will turn green, pull the lever on your armrest to trigger your parachute. You got it?"

"Wait what do you mean by drop?" Tela questioned, trying to climb out of the pod as she saw everyone around her climbed into one.

"Stay in your seat ma'am do you know what to do?" Major Bolt forced her back in her seat and put her seatbelt on for her.

"I understand but what do you mean by drop?" Tela struggled with the belt but couldn't pull it off.

"Good, have a nice drop," Major Bolt said pressing a button on the outside of her pod to close it on her and trap her in before running off outside her view.

"Good morning everyone and welcome to Hell Jumper express," Martin's helmeted head appeared on a screen in front of her, "please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times and have a nice trip."

Tela sunk in her seat in fear as the pod she was in started to shake and to slowly sink into the ground of the bay. Soon after a siren with a storm and gunfire sounds started echoing over the comms in her pod. As her view cleared from metal bulkhead to cloudy skies angry instrumentals replaced the siren, storm and gunfire sounds.

" _Launching drop pods in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…"_ Isabel called over the comms causing Tela's stomach to jerk as her pod started free falling and a human voice joined in with the instrumental.

 _Another mission, the powers have called me away. Another time, To carry the colors again. My motivation, an oath I've sworn to defend, to win the honor of coming back home again. No explanation will matter after we begin. Unlock the dark destroyer that's buried within. My true vocation, and now my unfortunate friend, you will discover a war you're unable to win…_

As the verse ended and the clouds moved away overhead to be replaced with RPGs, tracer rounds and flack shells shot out toward Tela and the other falling soldiers. One of the flack shells got a hit on a pod in front of her, forcing said pod to lose course and slam into two other pods to it's left and get caught in another flack shell, this time exploding it. Tela could feel adrenaline start to pump through her body, unsure if it was the fear of crashing and dying causing it or if it was the music that was broadcasted over the speakers of her pod.

 _I'll have you know that I've become, Indestructible. Determination that is incorruptible. From the other side, a terror to behold, annihilation will be unavoidable. Every broken enemy will know that their opponent had to be invincible. Take a last look around while you're alive, I'm an indestructible master of war…_

The light next to Tela quickly flashed from red to green, telling her to pull the lever next to her. Of course, she did pull it causing her pod to stop its impossibly fast acceleration almost instantly and start a slight upward assent due to the parachute and began falling at a slower pace. But it was still extremely fast for her liking if all her knowledge of common physics was anything to go by.

Nearby from what she sees from her view. She spotted five more pods get blasted out of the sky from RPGs, flack shells and AA cannons after finally getting clear shots on the UNSC soldier's pods.

 _Another reason, another cause for me to fight. Another fuse uncovered now, for me to light. My dedication to all that I've sworn to protect. I carry out my orders, with not a regret. A declaration embedded deep under my skin, a permanent reminder of how it began. No hesitation when I am commanding the strike. You need to know that you're in for the fight of your life..._

A team of four pods moved passed her vision toward one of the towers holding AA equipment. They were most likely Spartans with how they weaved around the incoming fire with nothing short of expert level coordination and insanely high reflexes. The four pods ended up smashing through the building with enough force to implode the first three top levels and bury themselves in the fourth level down.

 _You will be shown how I've become, Indestructible. Determination that is incorruptible. From the other side a terror to behold, annihilation will be unavoidable. Every broken enemy will know that their opponent had to be invincible. Take a last look around while you're alive, I'm an indestructible master of war…_

Tela used her power in biotics to form a barrier around her and her pod as more rounds started to focus on her. The force of the first impact from an RPG sent her spinning and bounce off the side of a skyscraper to her left which then sent her tumbling through a floor of a building to the right of the first one she hit. As Tela's pod exited the building she then hit another pod forcing her and the unlucky UNSC soldier to slam into another building. As this happened Tela's holding strap broke away allowing Tela to float free in her pod and slam headfirst into the pressure sealed glass of the pod, knocking her out cold.

 _I'm… Indestructible, determination that is incorruptible. From the other side a terror to behold, annihilation will be unavoidable. Every broken enemy will know that their opponent had to be invincible. Take a last look around while you're alive, I'm an indestructible master of war..._

 **XXXXXXXX**

"Shit, does anyone see our Spectre?" Leonidas asked through open comms as he continued his descent down toward the surface.

" _I think I saw a drop pod emitting a biotic field crash through a couple buildings at the edge of our clearing zone,"_ Martin called out through comms, _"I don't think she's walking out from that if that is her."_

"Then we better make sure she's okay," Leonidas sighed, "man is she going to be pissed."

 _Indestructible, determination that is incorruptible. From the other side a terror to behold, annihilation will be unavoidable. Every broken enemy will know that their opponent had to be invincible. Take a last look around while you're alive, I'm an indestructible master of war…_

Leonidas's pod in an open intersection surrounded by Batarian troops trying to get to better positions. If the sound of sudden pain quickly turning to silence and the feel of a squishing body under his pod meant anything he most likely landed on an unlucky sap that was out in the open. _Poor bastard,_ Leonidas sighed popping the hatch to his pod off, sending it flying into a Batarian trooper that was just a little bit too curious about Leonidas's pod. The hatch knocked the poor bastard out as he quickly unlatched his Saber Carbine from its slot in the drop pod and quickly put two neon green bolts of plasma through what remained of the Batarian squad around his drop pod. As Leonidas looked around his drop site he saw the rest of his team scattered about the outer intersection, rifles at the ready with bodies around them.

"Status report," Leonidas ordered as he took aim of the buildings around him.

"Edge, GREEN," Kei called out as she made her way toward Leonidas.

"Wolf, GREEN," Martin replied following Kei.

"Reaper, GREEN," Phoros said bringing up the rear of the team as he brought his weapon to bear at the quiet buildings around them.

"I've got a bad feeling about this it's almost completely empty out here," Martin thought aloud, "you'd think that there would have at least been a division in this sector alone with how much AA we were shot with on the way down."

"He's right I can't pick up anything on thermals," Phoros said tightening his grip on his experimental Carbine.

"This is Spartan Blaze of Fireteam Domino to all UNSC ground units," Leonidas called out through his comms, "does anyone see any hostiles? We've only encountered a single squad of combatants with RPGs down here and that's it."

" _That's a negative Spartan, only automated AA guns,"_ the rough and strict voice of a Sangheili replied over comms.

" _This is Hammer of Fireteam Watcher, we've just eliminated a patrol team here looks like they were the RPG bastards taking aim at us but that's it,"_ Hammer stated in annoyance, every other group that was in rang to reply said the same thing.

"Where the fuck is everyone?" Leonidas sighed feeling just that little bit more paranoid.

"It would make sense that they would move to rural areas to make sure their forces wouldn't be outright murdered," Kei shrugged.

"Except for one point, from the briefings and reports, if they don't set up in cities, they will usually set up heavily fortified base locations and the scans of the planet has shown that they don't have any of those planetside," Phoros said, "and the cities were the only places that we have ever seen movement on this damn planet."

"That doesn't help," Martin muttered shaking his head. Leonidas took one last look around finding the Batarian soldier he hit with the hatch of his pod trying to crawl away with a busted leg dragging behind him. Leonidas ran over to the Batarian flipping him over with his foot causing the Batarian to hiss in pain and bark in his language. A language that was able to be translated through Leonidas's external speaker's thanks to the Citadel translation software that they picked up on the Citadel station.

" _You are too late,_ Demon _,"_ the Batarian spat sickly orange blood at Leonidas but missed.

"Too late for what?" Leonidas growled back.

" _You fell right into our trap,"_ the Batarian laughed as he activated his Omni-tool and imputed a code before Leonidas could stop him.

"What did you do?!" Leonidas yelled as he picked up the Batarian by his chest plate.

" _For… the… Hegemony,"_ the Batarian shot himself in the head with his own sidearm.

"That's not good," Leonidas grabbed the Batarian's Omni-tool and attempted to open it, only for it to fry, "Wolf, did your AI get a scan of what that signal was?"

"It is a kill order," Martin said in shock.

"Get your long-range communicator up and running we don't have mu-" Leonidas dropped the Batarian's body but before he could finish his order all the tallest buildings around them crumbled from a violent series of explosions. This forced Fireteam Domino to do their best to run for cover as multiple people screamed over local comms about the building falling apart around them and large chunks of debris were flung all over.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Yes I know, I'm an evil soulless bastard that just buried multiple thousands of ODSTs, Spartans, and Spectres under thousands if not hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete, steel, and glass. (INSERT EVIL LAUGH HERE)**

 **I hope you guys liked the drop even though there wasn't that much of a firefight in this chapter unless you count the ODSTs, Spartans, and Spectres getting shot out of the sky as a firefight. There will be an actual full combat scenario between the UNSC survivors and the armies of the Batarians in the next chapter. I was going to put it in this one but that would put this chapter within the ranges of 8000-9000 words for this chapter alone. So I chose to cut it and save all the glorious combat for later because that will be the first time in this war that the UNSC will be fighting an uphill slog kind of battle.**

 **Oh, FYI what you just saw happening in the Batarian capital is actually happening in every major city on the planet of Khar'shan right now.**


	17. Chapter 17: Battle for Khar'shan III

**Hey, guys, I'm back. I can't believe my eyes… there is over 500 of you now. I'm honestly at a loss for words. This is just hard to wrap my head around, thank you all for following and supporting this project of mine.**

 **I'm sorry about the long wait between the last chapter and this one. I was besieged by religious zealots for a very long while AKA my super religious grandparents had come to visit as soon as I uploaded the last chapter so I wasn't able to warn you wonderful bastards before I had to play "normal" for them and I needed a break to get myself back into the swing of things. Don't get me wrong I love my grandparents to death, but I swear they will be the death of me with all the constant preaching.**

 **Enough of my ramblings, let's return to our regularly scheduled program full of extreme violence, four-eyed aliens and colorful words.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan** **…**

 **Location: Aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire**_ **…**

 **Date: 5 March 2560…**

 **Time: 07:45 military standard time…**

"Status report on the ground force," Cutter called over to his Kig-Yar sensor officer.

"Initial drop is a success with 98% of the ODSTs and Spartan units making it down to their designated landing zones," the Kig-Yar replied, "I'm not picking up any Batarian force movement in the city at all at this time."

"But our first scans showed at least four divisions worth of troops moving down there just an hour ago," Cutter bald his hand into a fist.

"Wait… by the Forerunners," the Kig-Yar officer went slack-jawed, "sir you're going to want to see this."

"Put it up on the main screen," Cutter ordered.

"Yes sir," the Kig-Yar nodded putting the image of the Batarian Capital City up on the main view screen. All that could be seen was of building crumbling down and toppling on top of the fact that dust and debris were flung in all directions.

"Does anyone have comms with our ground force?" Cutter asked as he felt the blood drain from his face.

"Sir, the other battle groups are calling in about their target cities crumbling around their ground forces!" the comms officer stated from her post, "their asking about what they should do."

"Tell them to attempt to get comms up with their ground forces, launch fighter wings to search for survivors, and prep all non combat dropships for immediate medivac," Cutter ordered as calmly as he could manage after seeing an entire city fall on the soldiers under his command, "this is a mass casualty scenario people, work down the checklist."

"Sir, I'm getting multiple SOS pings from 70% of our HEVs deployed inside the city," the comms operator called out, "and I'm getting requests for reinforcements from LZs Tango, Bravo, Delta, Quebec, India, Xray and Golf on the outskirts of the capital and away from the main blast radius."

"Set an automated order on all tight link frequencies for all ground insertion units to fall back to LZs Tango, Bravo, Delta, Quebec, India, Xray and Golf for resupply and medivac," Cutter ordered opening up the now updated holo-field map and highlighted the seven points with castle marking for deployment of ground bases around the still open areas of the city, "and get deployable base constructs built on those LZs for added support for those ODST platoons hunkered down in those areas."

"I'm picking up contact entering the city," the censor officer called out, "IFF tags them as Batarian as armored divisions."

"May God help those troopers," Cutter muttered wiping his face in frustration.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan** **…**

 **Location: Underground Planetary HQ, Section F-5, Khar'shan Capital City…**

 **Date: 03/05/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 07:50 galactic standard time…**

General Osank Kosboth looked out the window of the observation room of his personal quarters inside the massive underground bunker that spread twice the length of the entire city that was held 1500 km above them. The bunker easily head the entire population of the capital as well as 20 divisions of Hegemony soldiers, although only high ranking officers like himself and his staff had the clearance beyond Section E-5 for necessary military reasons. The civilian population was only that of the families and personal slaves of the 200 divisions.

Every political leader on Khar'shan had already left the planet for their personal bunkers elsewhere in the system that was even above his pay grade for 'need to know'. They all disappeared the first day that those strange anomalies that the AUR used as travel started popping up, leaving the entire planet in disarray but luckily General Kosboth and every other General was able to restore order and get plans for defense played out. Initially, Osank was furious and thought that every political leader that ran from their duty should be shot on site or have their eyes removed for treason. Over the last couple of weeks, he had simmered down in part because all his focus was changed to helping defend his home world from attack.

The battle plan that was drawn up to deal with the invaders was broken up into three separate yet critical phases. The first phase was the deployment of every slave army that was raised from birth to give their lives to the Hegemony on the surface of the planet to draw in the UNSC forces and having the fiercely loyal and mediocre soldiers detonate entire city blocks to break the UNSC's will. The second part was to send 10 divisions out to each city to kill all pockets of UNSC soldiers that did not die from being buried using their SOS comms to track them down. The last phase was deploying every soldier onto the surface with enough AA and defensive shields to remove a heavy cruiser in one volley. All in hopes of forcing heavy attrition rates on the UNSC and force them to retreat and force at least a cease-fire.

The entire HQ system was put under construction after, first contact with the Citadel Council in the event that they would have to contend with the military might of the Turians over border disputes and the 'procurement' of planets to grow their empires. The city was only constructed to hide the base because of suspected STG surveillance.

Osank was currently watching his two young, played in an open yard like area with their mother and the house slave as he rested. The slave was an extremely old Asari that had been in his family for generations and had always taken care of the young of her master's due to her maternal nature.

"General, I have news from the surface," Osank heard his second in command walk into the room.

"What is it then?" Osank asked turning to face his subordinate.

"They have landed and the explosives have been activated, sir," the Batarian explained.

"Good, get all armored divisions to the surface as our spear head," Osank nodded his head dismissively, "we will drive this inadequate race off our planet through blood and numbers."

"I will send it," Osank's second nodded and left General Kosboth to his musings for now.

 _We will not lose today,_ Osank smiled knowing that his plan was working to end the invasion.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan** **…**

 **Location: Orbital Drop Site Alpha, Batarian Capital City…**

 **Date: 5 March 2560…**

 **Time: 08:00 military standard time…**

"Hey, Asari are you okay in there?" Tela heard a human plead to her through her pod's speaker, "if you can hear me click the small green radio button on your arm rest… please."

Tela didn't know why the human was panicking so much. Why didn't he just let her sleep? Sleep was nice usually no one woke her in her sleep but this lower gene pool species had the audacity to do so. Tela didn't remember why she was crammed inside this tomb but all she wanted to do was sleep at least for a little longer.

"GOD DAMN IT, WAKE UP!" the human screamed at her with frustration, fear, and anger in his voice as he pounded on the glass of his pod with his fist.

Tela shook awake finding her head warm and sticky from blood that had been leaking from a minor head wound. She automatically took in her surroundings, she was definitely still in her pod but it was almost completely surrounded by rubble except for the front facing which faced another pod right in front of her. The ODST inside breathed a sigh of relief as he saw her stir from her motionless state.

"Thank the gods," the human laughed, "I'm not alone down here."

"What happened?" Tela groaned as she sat up as best she could to find a more comfortable angle.

"The last thing I remember is your HEV hitting me and I woke up to this," the ODST sighed tapping a combination of buttons into a screen next to him, "I've just activated my emergency beacon all that needs to happen now is wait."

"Why did you wake me?" Tela asked focusing her blurred vision on the human.

"I'm a field medic, you have a nasty head injury and if your biology is anything like a humans then it's not good to be sleeping, you'll lose more blood that way," the ODST tapped his head armored head, "hey couldn't you use your Biotic powers to move the rubble off of us?"

"No, sorry, there is too much for me to even attempt to lift it all off us if this building really has fallen on us," Tela sighed, "how long will the air last in these things anyway?"

"The air supply only lasts as long as the burn of reentry last which is a good few minutes afterward they just bring in air from outside to breath if a soldier is caught in a situation like this."

"I see. How long will you think it will take before someone is able to find us?"

"It could take up to a few hours to a couple days depending how deeply buried we are… if anyone picks up the signal at all that is."

"Wait, what?! Why would you do something like this if there is a possibility of dying in a way like this?!" Tela gasped in shock at how reckless this was.

"They don't call us 'Hell Jumpers' for nothing ma'am," the ODST chuckled sadly

 **XXXXXXXX**

"Leonidas wake up!" Leonidas heard an ear-splitting voice, "come on hero man we've got a job to do."

Leonidas groaned as he slowly regained his bearings. As he opened his eyes all he could see was rubble and Kei's unarmored head looking down at him. Kei looked pretty beat up, the forehead above her right eyebrow had been severely scraped and had what looked like a small piece of her visor stuck in it, her bottom lip was broken and swollen slightly and her armor looked like she had faced a full Covenant assault on her own.

"Finally," Kei said with a teary smile, Leonidas felt like he was just hit by a Scorpion tank at MAC speed, "how do you feel?"

"Like a building fell on me," Leonidas said dryly with a slight chuckle but found it painful to do so.

"Well, one did," Kei chuckled along.

"How long have I been out? The last thing I remember was us scattering and a building falling on me," Leonidas sat up aking, "I think a couple ribs are cracked."

"Then you were out for quite a while," Kei said helping Leonidas sit up straight and gave him a couple pills, "these should help with the pain until evac arrives."

"Where are the others?" Leonidas asked taking the pain meds and took one last look around to see if the others were with them as he waited for an answer that never came, "have you at least been able to hail them on comms?"

"No my helmet's busted," Kei shook her head, "you're the first one I've been able to find so far."

"Shit," Leonidas sighed, "where's my helmet?"

"Here," Kei past it from a nearby rock to Leonidas to dawn. The helmet visor had a small crack in the upper right-hand corner of the glass about a few centimeters long.

"This is Blaze to all members of Fireteam Domino does anyone respond? I repeat does anyone respond?" Leonidas broadcasted over team comms as soon as he dawned his helmet and waited a minute a full minute for a response, "nothing, they're either out of range or their out cold."

"What now?" Kei asked.

"We find them," Leonidas said standing up and grabbing his M-99 Saber Carbine, checking that it was still in working order, "you have your helmet?"

"Of course," Kei said tapping her waist where it was mag locked with its visor missing slivers of the hardened enameled glass.

"Put it on," Leonidas ordered pointing to it, "your going to need the head protection even if you don't have access to your hud."

"Yeah," Kei said moving her hand to her helmet.

"Wait," Leonidas said reaching out and grabbing the small visor shard in her forehead and softly pulling it out, "better."

"Thanks," Kei smiled as she dressed the wound with a simple disinfectant and an adhesive bandage and dawned her broken helmet, "where to?"

"That way," Leonidas said pointing to the only other direction of travel that Kei hadn't explored yet.

"This is going to be a long walk," Kei grunted as she followed Leonidas with weapon up scanning for targets.

Leonidas and Kei had traversed the rubble that was once a city unable to find a way up and out of the dense rubble build up. During their search for a way to the rest of their team and find a way out to radio for evac they had found more than a few ODST units trying to find a way out and regrouped them, totaling their numbers out to roughly 22 soldiers working on a way out. Ten of these ODSTs were human equipped with similar SPI armor that the S-IIIs used during the Covenant War. The only thing that changed in the design was that it had slightly thicker photoreactive armor plates that made the armor about 10% more durable than the earlier models produced for the S-IIIs, a matt black and red coloration similar to the old ODST gear usually had was added when stealth wasn't an option, a small endoskeleton was designed into the suit to alleviate the weight of the overall armor and be able to keep up with the more alien squadmates like the Sangheili or Kig-Yar, a small energy shield system was set in place on the soldiers to protect against full frontal engagements but would be completely useless during stealth operations and the helmet was shaped exactly like the old ODST helm from before the war but had much more in the way of internal systems to work with almost to the point of using Mjolnir level systems. This armor is most commonly referred to as the Mark-3 suit and has, for the most part, phased out the old ODST battle armor due to the versatility that the newer armor produced and the amount of protection it has for these near suicidal soldiers. The rest of the ODSTs with them were Kig-Yar and Sangheili along with a couple of Spectres and about four C-sec operatives, all of them were in pretty bad shape but they pushed along all the same.

" _This is… Wolf… Fireteam Domino… broadcasts… all channels… needing assistance… does anybody bloody respond?"_ Leonidas heard the annoyed call of Martin broadcast weakly into his radio.

"Wolf, this is Blaze can you hear me?" Leonidas asked into his comm.

" _I copy, sir,"_ Martin said with relief in his voice as the radio cleared up, _"I... hail Edge... she's out around... area... during the collapse."_

"She's here with me, Wolf," Leonidas laughed, "can you get a beacon out for us to track? This place is a god damn maze."

" _Yes… get… Reaper's pinned… need help,"_ Martin replied."Okay, we'll get to you as fast as we can," Leonidas said turning to Kei, "Wolf's okay for now but Reaper's is in trouble."

"We're coming with you," a Sangheili sergeant stated, rolling his shoulders, "it sounds like you could use the extra support."

"Yeah you guys would come in handy," Leonidas nodded as he continued along the rubble.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"There you bloody fools are," Martin sighed as Leonidas broke through a thin piece of wall.

"We would have gotten here sooner but we picked up some friends along the way," Kei said motioning to the several dozen ODSTs and C-sec officers along with a couple Spectres following in after them.

"Where's Reaper?" Leonidas asked looking around the small little room. Reaper waved over from the ground on the far end of the small room behind Martin. When Leonidas and Kei got a good look at him it was obvious that he was stuck underneath a pillar of steel at least as wide as a hunter and about twice as long.

"What happened to you buddy?" Leonidas asked through a private link.

"Two walls and this pillar fell on me… both walls heart equally," Phoros muttered in annoyance, "and Wolf can't get it off me on his own."

"Don't worry, we'll get you out," Leonidas nodded remembering that the Scout variant was always built for with extra speed enhancers that pulled power away from his strength, which allowed him to quickly infiltrate enemy locations to plant satchel charges or steal key data to be used later.

Leonidas, Kei, and Martin got in position on either side of the broken pillar and with the assistance of a few of the Sangheili with them, they were able to lift the pillar off Phoros enough for him to roll out of the way. As the group dropped the pillar back to its resting place, it toppled causing what was left of a wall on the eastern side, showing a convoy of Batarian armor rolling down the broken street. There were two battle tanks, four APCs with heavy auto-cannons mounted on them, and four APCs with no cannons meant only for transport.

"EVERYONE TO COVER NOW!" Leonidas yelled as he pushed a Sangheili to his right out of the way of large caliber automatic weapons fire.

"Anyone have an anti-armor rocket on them?" Kei asked ducking behind a chunk of concrete to escape a tank shell, "we need to remove these battle tanks."

"I got it," one of the Human ODSTs yelled out skidding into position with a JACKHAMMER Launcher on his shoulder as he sighted one down ignoring the Batarian rifle fire that slowly started draining his shields, "clear back blast!"

"Back blast clear," Leonidas called out crouching next to Kei rifle out.

The ODST fired one of his rockets at the closest Battle Tank, hitting it where the main cannon met the body of the tank and exploded in a shower of metal and fire as the tank slowly stopped turning and sputtered to a stop, dead. As the UNSC soldier changed his aim toward the last tank, a squad of Batarian infantry men jumped out of an APC and focused fire on the ODST, one of the rounds piercing his shields, bypassing the the weak armor layer around the neck, and tearing through the soldier's throat forcing him to drown in his own blood. As the ODST died he squeezed the trigger and fired the JACKHAMMER Launcher prematurely hitting the now empty APC, killing half the squad that was responsible for his death before he hit the ground.

"Spartans we need to fall back now there are too many of them we will die here," the Sangheili ODST Leonidas saved stated as he took potshots at the Batarian infantry swarming out of their transports.

"These are your soldiers Sangheili, we're a different branch entirely," Leonidas responded as he peaked out of cover to put three shots down range getting three headshot kills before getting back down to escape from another tank shell, "it's up to you to get them out of here, we'll cover your fallback."

"Understood, Spartan," the Sangheili nodded, "everyone, get back into the rubble we need to get out of the line of fire of the heavy armor."

The ODSTs sharing the small space with Fireteam Domino back peddled out of the vicinity under supportive fire of Leonidas, Kei, Martin, and Phoros. As the ODSTs left, Martin aimed at the main Batarian Battle Tank and pressed the red button on the side of his rifle charging the underslung Spartan Laser beam while taking multiple rounds to his shields and fired as his shields broke. The beam melted off the barrel to the main cannon when it hit leaving a pungent smell of ozone, and detonating the shell that was trying to work its way through the barrel, killing the tank and its crew in a massive fireball. Martin ducked back behind his cover as his weapon started to smoke near the power pack to recharge his shields.

"The Spartan Laser takes the full battery in one go," Martin said swapping the completely melted hunk of plastic, metal, and wire that was once a battery and threw it at one of the Batarian soldiers that were trying to push forward as he loaded a fresh battery in, knocking one of the four-eyed bastard out in the process.

"Noted," Leonidas rolled to his feet switching to burst full auto mode on his rifle forcing the Batarian troops to scatter, "fall back and regroup with the ODSTs, these bastards will have to come to us if they want us dead."

"Copy," the rest of the fireteam spoke in unison as all four moved backward toward where the ODSTs exited while picking off an unlucky Batarian trooper every three shots.

"You have a plan?" Leonidas asked the Sangheili ODST commander as Fireteam Domino regrouped with them. The layout of the surroundings was much more spacious than what they were walking through earlier. They must have taken a different turn from when they first came through. This place was most likely an intersection between building blocks but only it now only had one entrance coming from the south, with the other paths covered in mountains of collapsed buildings.

"This is a good choke point, with little cover for them to work with when they inevitably push against this position," the Sangheili replied pointing out the convenience of the area.

"Kill box, nice," Leonidas cringed thankfully hidden under his armor remembering the plan for the battle of Razgriz play over again in his mind and finding similarities between that event and now, except they had no fallback lines, tank squadrons, air support, and 69% fewer soldiers to work with then back then, "my team will set up toward the front. We can take and dish out a lot more damage than you can at the moment and it relieves pressure off your men to deal with their armored units and you will be able to warn us of upcoming reinforcements and airstrikes."

"Right," the Sangheili officer nodded, his expression one of steel calculation.

"One last thing can you try to get your long-range radio online? We will be needing evac from here," Leonidas said as the Sangheili moved away nodding a reply as he dissolved into the terrain, _I wish we brought our invisibility gear._ The current armor equipment loadout that Domino had on was the Prothean forearm shield, a small plasma cutter attached to the left forearm that's used to force open bulkheads and in extreme circumstances cut open enemy combatants, and large thruster packs to easily scale buildings and flank enemy positions easily.

"What's the plan boss?" Martin asked as he sat on a large chunk of rock.

"We hold here until we either get reinforcements, evac or…" Leonidas clenched his fist as he looked at his soldiers, trying to find the right word.

"We die," Phoros murmured solemnly as he checked his weapon one last time.

"Wouldn't be a Spartan mission if it were easy, people," Leonidas nodded priming his rifle and making sure his energy sword was ready for use, "we're the distraction for the ODSTs to turn this area into a Kill Box, Spartans, let's give them one hell of a show. Besides Spartans never die."

Fireteam Domino spread out amongst the rubble of the clearing. Leonidas, Kei, and Phoros blended in well with the ruined terrain around them due to their preference in armor color of blacks and greys while the soot that covered them provided a nice mix for a basic camouflage pattern to hide them more. Martin, on the other hand, had had his normal blue but still had the soot that covers his armor head to toe like the others but it didn't help quite as much as it did for the others. Martin had just set down four anti-tank mines around the only opening to their position and had gotten behind a pillar of concrete before the first wave of Batarian soldiers worked their way through the opening followed by heavy weapon toting APCs. It was obvious what remained of the group that they had encountered earlier but they were more pissed off than anything. Leonidas clicked his orange status light on and off three times to signal for Martin to blow the Batarians away with the charges, receiving a green status light from said Spartan as the mines detonated destroying half the APCs in a blinding flash of fire, and armor shrapnel and screams of shock, pain, and confusion.

" _Weapons free,"_ Leonidas heard the Sangheili officer bark into the comms as all ODSTs disengaged their cloaking and everyone opened fire on the shell-shocked Batarian soldiers, easily mowings them down with combined crosses of plasma and kinetic rounds.

" _I've got contact with command, we're retreating from the city to LZs across the outskirts of the capital,"_ a Kig-Yar said over comms, _"I'm patching it through across all local channels now."_

" _This is an automated message from Admiral Cutter of the UNSC_ _ **SPIRIT OF FIRE**_ _to all ground units within the Khar'shan capital city. This is a mass casualty scenario…"_

Leonidas' heart stopped as he listened to his comm as the message continued to play.

" _All survivors are to report to LZs now reclassified as HQs Tango, Bravo, Delta, Quebec, India, Xray, and Golf now to reorganize, medivac wounded and counterattack against the Batarian forces. Move to the closest one to your current positions at all costs. This is an auto-"_

" _It just repeats from there,"_ the Kig-Yar said, obviously waiting for orders.

"We are too far away from any of those HQs," Leonidas argued over his comm.

" _The Spartan is right, we are too far away,"_ the Sangheili officer sighed begrudgingly over comm, _"we hold here until reinforcements arrived and hope that we are still alive by the time the UNSC counter push reaches our location."_

"Heads up we've got more hostiles incoming, a lot more than last time at least two and a half companies worth," Leonidas warned as more red blips popped up on his motion tracker.

The entire force went silent after hearing that news and waited for anything close by to make a sound. It took two full minutes before the way into their fortified area turned into a mess of fire as Batarian ground forces charged through the opening in mass. The first 10 Batarian soldiers to make their way past the threshold were immediately gunned down as Spartan Fireteam Domino fired their full auto-rifles at them before the rest got smart and started focusing fire on the Spartans positions, forcing them to turn on their Forerunner arm mounted hard light shields or duck behind cover. As the Batarians focused on the Spartans, the ODSTs disengaged their cloaks and opened fire with Battle Rifles, Needler Rifles and grenades killing dozens of Baratian infantry.

As the second wave of infantry fell another replaced it, this time armed with slightly heavier armor that was able to withstand a couple direct hits from the Battle Rifles and Needler Rifles due to deflector shield systems yet they still couldn't handle the direct plasma fire that the Spartans were packing. This fight was much harder as three ODST Kig-Yar were killed from the weight of fire thrown at them.

"I'm on my last mag!" Leonidas heard a human ODST yelled out after an hour of nonstop combat that claimed two more ODSTs, including the Sangheili officer, making Leonidas the highest ranking officer in their defense. Fireteam Domino was eventually pushed back to the line that the ODSTs had drawn about thirty minutes ago due to the severe lack of cover and the usage of three energy cells to remove enemy tanks that tried to punch through with the Batarian infantry putting them at about two cells remaining each.

"There's too many of them," a Kig-Yar hissed as he took the head off a Batarian lieutenant, "they're like young crazed Unggoy."

"I'd take a planet full of rampaging grunts over this shit," Martin exclaimed with anger in his tone, shooting a Batarian soldier that was trying to flank his position, "hell throw me on a planet of Brutes wearing a steak suit, and tied to a tree. That would be more preferable than this."

"Spartan, do you ever shut up?" another human ODST asked as he chucked a grenade at the point that the Batarians were streaming out of.

"He was a Marine Corporal, we both know those fools never shut up when they try to one-up the Hell Jumpers," Kei said rolling to cover as her shield started failing.

"It's part of the charm," Martin grunted as a sniper shot bounced off his helmet, "I'll shut up now."

" _This is Bravo-416 to UNSC units at coordinates 44505 by 08243,"_ Leonidas heard an amused human voice sound from his comm, _"you ladies look like stirred up a hornet down there."_

 _Finally, evac,_ Leonidas sighed and marked the entrance to his position for an attack run, "this is Spartan Blaze of Fireteam Domino to Bravo-416, the landing zone is hot, I recommend making a parking lot at marked coordinates."

" _Copy that Spartan, sit back and watch the fireworks,"_ Leonidas could hear the grin on Bravo-416 as the area around them turned into over Zelos amounts of explosions. As the smoke cleared a couple pelican dropships came into view and landed on the now flattened rubble, _"hop on ladies the fun has just begun."_

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **There you go another 5000+ word chapter to make up for lost time and to celebrate over 500 followers. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I plan on making the rest of the planetary invasions throughout this story be 4000+ words from now on because these are just too fun to write. Thank you all for the great moral support and have a great day wherever you are.**


	18. Chapter 18: HEADHUNTING Season

**Hello everyone! I hope you all had a nice holiday season and new years. Before we get into the thick of it I wanted to address some concerns that have been popping up about the pacing of this arc, my grammar issues and give an explanation for why I haven't been updating.**

 **First off the pacing: the reason this is so "fast-paced" as many are calling it is because I've been trying to run this first arc in the feel of a world war 2 film, very fast paced, not much in the way of character development and focusing on key engagements of the war, basically this is "First Contact" and I don't want to drag it out too long because this kind of thing has been done to death in a lot of other stories on this site following the premise of pick X human faction from any sci-fi universe replacing the Systems Alliance or simply upgrade the hell out of the Systems Alliance. I know I might have butchered this concept but I'm doing my best and I will be making later arc much slower in pacing.**

 **Secondly, grammar: I'm doing my best with the tools at my disposal, I'm even triple checking every sentence three times before moving on to a new paragraph. Add on the fact that I'm doing this all on my own and things tend to fall through the cracks. I could always get a Beta-reader to help out but I don't want to waste someone's time waiting to do a peer edit on a chapter that could take many months to make the first draft of.**

 **And lastly, WHERE HAVE I BEEN: It turns out that life is a pain in the ass, especially car crashes (This is the third one within the past year BTW! Why do cars hate me?! :'( ) so I've been laying in bed recovering since a week after the last big update and kind of forgot I had this chapter sitting around half finished.**

 **One more thing before you head on into the chapter proper. I've been contemplating if I should incorporate the story idea I have for where John-117 is after he drops off the grid in 2558 into this one and I want to get your opinions on this before I touch anything dealing with that area of the story. There is a poll up and I want you all to vote on it if you can.**

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 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Spekilas** **…**

 **Location: Onboard UNSC** _ **Geisha**_ **…**

 **Date: 5 March 2560…**

 **Time: 09:10 military standard time…**

Admiral Yen-Keth sighed as the former Batarian fleet of 200, now molten shards of metal that once defended this lifeless ice rock drifted into the gravity well of the planet they so desperately fought to protect. It took roughly two hours to completely obliterate the tightly packed formation of ships due to a single plasma lance being able to cut five to six ships to pieces with a single shot but he was able to give his weapon operators a nice fun challenge mostly consisting of only hitting engine blocks. For each engine block that was hit without destroying the ship, said weapons operator would get a 100 credit bonus on top of their next paycheck. The operators were nowhere near that good but it was always fun pulling up challenges like this every once in a while. They had managed to cripple four vessels that were still in orbit and multiple boarding parties had been sent in to capture their crew and the rest of the ship but for the most part Yen-Keth had spread his fleet out across the planet to make recon of the terrain and try to pinpoint the exact source of the anomalies.

Of course, many people wonder why an old Kig-Yar like Yen-Keth or Kir-Yar, in general, decided to throw their lot in with a strict government system like the AUR in the first place. It wasn't the magnificently good pay that came with the job, not the way that Kig-Yar naturally knew the ins and outs of how pirates operate, not even the nice bonuses that came with the silencing of said pirates. In retrospect, these were contributing factors but the simple fact was that they had too much to lose if they didn't. Humanity was now the dominant force in the galaxy, couple that with what happened to most of the Jiralhanae tribes left in the galaxy, and most Kig-Yar wanted to keep their nests from falling into the same fate. There are still those nests out there that outright defy any governing body and continue their piracy, but they are few and far between.

"How have the scans been going?" Yen-Keth heard the distinct voice of a male human behind him and turned to face the human. This human was what his people called caucasian in skin pigment with short black fur the humans called hair on top of his head though it was greying slightly, showing his age that couldn't be anywhere over 40 but the humans prior to the incorporation of Forerunner slipspace drives used massive amounts of cryo systems to keep them sane during slipspace. One of his eyes was scarred over by what Yen-Keth assumed to be the blade mark of an energy sword, the eye was gone leaving an empty socket that unnerved him. It most likely popped when it made contact with the energy blade. He had a good muscular build for a human, clad in ODST combat kit but the most striking thing about said kit was the big ONI logo painted on his left shoulder.

"Scans are going slowly, Agent Florian. There is just too much interference on the planet's surface for our scans to come out correctly. My best guess is two days maybe more if things go fast," Yen-Keth replied yawning as he looked at the data pad in his talons, humans were such boring creatures especially those of the military intelligence variety, but at least the normal ones that were assigned to Kig-Yar Battle Groups had a sense of humor, "do you mind informing me why Naval Intelligence has sent you along with the Spartans I asked for?"

"I'm helping lead the Spartan force that has been assigned to the planetary invasion along with other ONI personnel," Florian said stiffly, Yen-Keth could tell that this human was reluctant to work with him and he couldn't blame the man. If Yen-Keth was put in the human's position during the war then he would be just as paranoid and untrusting of aliens such as himself.

"Then why were almost every Spartan team entrusted to my fleet by Admiral Cutter not have any background data that I can read fully and why so many? I thought I was only getting a handful of Spartans at the most eight of your super soldiers not 37 of them," Yen-Keth asked annoyance growing in his voice, "I need an explanation for that at least."

"It is because they are HEADHUNTERS, you already know of the S-IIs, sir. All they are is black ink, and they were the only ones we could spare," Agent Florian said with ease as Yen-Keth stiffened like a board recognizing the name from his service in the Covenant, "Cutter has had a delegation from the Citadel Council tagging his heels and due to the secrecy of HEADHUNTERS they were the only ones free to send."

"What is on that planet, Captain?" Yen-Keth growled, still slightly shell shocked by the news of _HEADHUNTERS_ on his ship, "am I allowed to know that?"

"We tracked multiple small craft, mostly cargo fraters and luxury shuttles evacuate from Khar'shan to this planet after we initially got in the system and started our scouting procedures. The ONI brass above me deemed these shuttles to be the Batarian ruling class and their slave underlings, so my mission, as well as those of the HEADHUNTERs, is to kill every last one of the Batarian ruling class."

"And why can't I just turn this ice ball into glass? It would be cheaper to just do that then waist the power of Spartans on such simple targets."

"Our orders are clear, they have slaves. HIGHCOM and ONI deem the slaves of the Batarians to be too important to waist. You can't install a puppet government if there are no people to influence."

"I see, will my ground complement be necessary for this operation?"

"If things work how we believe them to then no, we will be able to handle this. All we will require is for your scans to be complete and for dropships be readied to drop us off and pick us up after the deed has been done but have your forces ready for landing anyway if things go belly up."

"Very well, you will have what you need as soon as possible only because I want those _things_ off my ship," Yen-Keth growled as he waved the human off his bridge.

"Understood," Florian didn't even salute the Admiral before filing out of the bridge.

Captain Drake Florian sighed as soon as the door to the bridge closed behind him. He really did not like being on covenant ships even if they now bear the markings of the UNSC. All Florian hoped for was a sort mission and he could finally get away from all this.

 _I'm definitely filing shore leave after this is over,_ Florian shook his head as he continued down the hallway toward hangar 6-H where HEADHUNTERS were cordoned off from the rest of the crew due to their more than unfriendly attitude toward the Alien crew, pulling out his datapad he scrolled through the files of HEADHUNTER Fireteam Damocles. Florian always found it best to read as far into the files of those he'd be working with as possible.

With HEADHUNTERS this was rather simple to do because HEADHUNTER teams were filed directly as a Black Ops. branch of ONI. They were actually the only Spartan forces left to them after the full history of what created the Spartan IIs and the hell that the Spartan IIIs went through got out to the public eye. All thanks to one Benjamin Giraud and the Queen of ONI plus Spartan II herself Serin (S-019) Osman. This elaborate plan to unveil the Spartan program was set in motion after Admiral Osman returned from a very short visit to the planet of Cascade, her birth world. No records exist of what exactly happened while she was there but all anyone knows or cares about is that the aftermath of her actions shook ONI to its very core.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan** **…**

 **Location: F.O.B. Xray, Batarian Capital City…**

 **Date: 03/07/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 13:00 galactic standard time…**

" _This is Spectre log 593, Tela Vasir of the Council Special Task Force assigned to the AUR Batarian War Front. We've officially landed planetside on Khar'shan and have established a rather large beachhead here,"_ Tela sighed as she sat down in a secluded area of the Barracks given to her and the surviving members of the Council Task Force in this sector of the city.

Tela had a look of grim resentment on her face which had adopted a rather noticeable scar on her right upper brow as well as a swollen right cheek, _"the Battle of Khar'shan, as everyone is calling it now, has not gone well for any party. In the first day of fighting, the UNSC lost over 2,000 soldiers to capture this beachhead. We are dug in what remains of the Batarian capital and the casualties have stacked up by 85 soldiers per day. 300 of these soldier were C-sec officers and five were Spectres… roughly striking a full quarter of our Task Force from the mission,"_ Tela shuddered, _"39.04% of these casualties were lost in the opening landing where the Batarians dropped their cities on top of us and the rest were slaughtered trying to unbury themselves from the rubble around them."_

Tela took a deep breath and shook her head, before continuing, _"I've seen combat many times in my life but this is my first experience with actual war. We are severely unprepared for anything like this but I'm getting off track. During the first day of the battle, we were able to find multiple entrances previously unknown to us under the capital city. These entrances lead to a massive underground military complex and we have been slowly making our way deeper but there is a lot of opposition in this subterranean fortress. The UNSC has barely been able to clear the first level even with the help of their Spartans, more ground elements will be planetside within the week but the lack of control over any kind of spaceport is making logistics very difficult to manage. Our estimated time frame of fully securing the planet is roughly six months, during that time frame we've been ordered to secure this fortress or destroy it in the first four of these months."_

" _Attached to this transmission is a video recording of Spartan forces in action. Along with that, I'm sending a formal request to make countermeasures for Spectres that will one day have to deal with these behemoths of war,"_ Tela looked out toward the entrance to see the other Council soldiers start filing out of the room due to an alarm sounding, _"This is Spectre Vasir signing out..."_

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Spekilas** **…**

 **Location: Onboard UNSC** _ **Geisha**_ **…**

 **Date: 7 March 2560…**

 **Time: 20:00 military standard time…**

Florian walked briskly toward the hangar that the HEADHUNTERS used, quickly scrolling through the data from the planet of Spekilas. From all the intel that the Kig-Yar fleet gathered, there seemed to be 18 separate habitation domes on the planet's surface. The same number as the shuttles that were tracked here. The only problem that he could see was the fact that each of them had roughly two companies worth of troops and a lot of AA equipment. All HEADHUNTER forces were set to be deployed in an hour and start their operation.

As he marched into the hangar he immediately spotted his team due to the sore thumb that was Spartan Chance. The man was in a rather large suit of powered armor that reminded him of a cross between gorilla and knight or more precisely a much leaner Mrk. III Mjolnir armor dubbed the gorilla suit by the engineers that made it and an Anubis pattern helmet that he was in the process of putting on. The armor on his body was meant for long term fighting with extra reinforced plates that made the spartan have a somewhat slower movement speed than the others but it allowed the wearer to pack much more lethal armaments, such as flamethrowers, rockets or HMGs easier. Chance from what he read correctly favored a flamethrower/cryo-freezer as his main weapon of choice, a personal bias he has from when he served as a flame trooper. The man seems to be the most stable soldier in his team compared to his partner, Elijah, who stood beside Chance in the standard War Master class common among HEADHUNTERS of the S-IV variety.

Elijah was the man Florian had to watch due to his rather barbaric ways of dispatching with hostiles because it ran the possibility of slowing the process of the mission. Florian had some kinship with the man, with both of them starting their careers as part of the ODSTs but that was as far as Florian's kinship with Elijah went. Florian recalled what his old gunnery sergeant used to say about men like Elijah, 'he is the kind of man you can count on in the field but not somebody you would go out drinking with'. Florian was just thankful that these HEADHUNTERS had at least three combat insertions under their belts as HEADHUNTERS.

"Spartan Elijah, Spartan Chance," Florian nodded to each of them in turn as he got close to their much taller forms.

"Sir," they both said in unison as they snapped off solutes.

"At ease," Florian soluted back.

"I'm guessing you have our mission?" Chance asked, nodding to the data pad in Florian's hand.

"Yes," Florian sighed, stuffing the pad away, "we're combining the standard operating procedures for Scorched Earth and Hostage Rescue."

"What do you expect we'll be running into down there?" Chance asked frowning under his helmet.

"Most likely slaves held at gunpoint, minimum two companies of fully armed soldiers likely the very best they have, AA defenses, unstable functionality in active camo gear, visor modes and motion tracker tech due to the high levels of interference emitted from the planet itself," Florian pointed out, "basically fubar in all sense of the word."

"Wouldn't be a HEADHUNTER mission if it were easy," Elijah cracked his neck to loosen up.

 **XXXXXXXX**

The flight to the ground was quiet, Elijah was piloting them into the target zone as close as he could, while Florian and Chance sat with five massive crates of gear in the cargo hold. Florian was in there because he was running final checks on his field kit and Chance was in there because he simply didn't fit in the copilot's seat. These crates held all the ammo, weapons, food and repair tools needed for the operation.

" _I'm setting down here, don't want to risk being shot down by AA,"_ Elijah sounded over comms as Florian felt the Owl set down.

"How far are we from the target habitat?" Florian asked cocking the slide on his ancient trusty M6D Magnum with a suppressor attachment, chambering a round. The old thing was the last piece of gear that he still had from his ODST days, he had to turn back in his old ODST kit due to the upgrade the SPI Mrk. III gave.

"Roughly 12 may be 13 clicks from the target bearing due East," Elijah responded as he stepped into the cargo bay with a stock BR85 series rifle with no attachments except for the standard scope and an SRS99-S5 pattern Sniper Rifle. The entire 37 man HEADHUNTER detachment had decided to bring only ballistic weapons because they were much easier to suppress and were more readily available and the people using them were more comfortable using them.

"How did we get this close? The AA should have shot us down well before we got within 50 clicks," Florian raised his eyebrow confused.

"Followed the space debris in, sir," Elijah stated.

"Okay we approach from the ground from here on out, Elijah, make sure the dumb AI on this thing is ready to converge on our location after we knock out the AA emplacements, Chance you're in charge of getting the warthog loaded with the supplies. I'll assist you when I get our map course reset," Florian ordered receiving a curt salute from both of them before they moved to their assigned tasks. As the two HEADHUNTERs busied themselves in their tasks Florian took a look at the map, marking out a good route to get to their target within a timely manner from their now much closer position.

Stepping out onto the planet to help Chance pack the Warthog, Florian could see the hulking masses of Batarian ships cratering down on the planet. There were many large pieces of ship poking out from the mountainous range around them, he could even spot the spine of a coil gun jutting from a mountain to his west and a half intact ship left a burning wreck in a gouged out swath of ice to his north. It almost made the place look like a graveyard, now that he thought about it, it was already a graveyard to those that were on those ships. Thinking about this made Florian's stomach twist in a sickening way recalling looking at similar sites during the Great War, he was just thankful that his helmet was on so the others didn't see him turn pale. After Florian snapped himself out of his thoughts it didn't take long for the team to finish the loading the transport hog with their equipment.

"This is Captain Drake Florian to _Geisha_ Actual, do you hear me?" Florian called out using the extended radio on the Warthog.

"This is _Geisha_ , we read you though we are picking up a little interference," the Kig-Yar on the other end of the line replied.

"Copy going radio silent from here on out, will reopen comms when the mission is complete," not waiting for a reply, Florian cut the comlink off and looked to the others. Elijah sat in the driver seat waiting for an order and Chance was in the back with the supplies, waiting for them to move or a target to show up.

"Drive," was the only word Florian said and Elijah sped off following the marked route.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Serpent Nebula** **…**

 **Location: Citadel, Presidium, AUR Embassy…**

 **Date: 10 March 2560…**

 **Time: 09:10 military standard time…**

General Murakami Yuro sat at her desk, going through reports about the recent victory that the troopers under her command pulled off not two days earlier. There were two massive stacks of files on both sides of her desk. The ones on the left were the after action reports that had to be filtered up to her due to the level of clearance necessary to read them and the ones on the right were tactical documents on Citadel defenses, and the detailed analysis of the militaries, cultures, politics, and demographics on each Citadel race from the lowest protectorate species to the top three races that ran it all from their all-seeing pedestal. The reason for all the political documents was because ever since the UNSC upheld its power as Humanities governing entity within the parliament of the UEG after the Covenant War, every high ranking military commander was required to have political law under their belt in case something like meeting another hostile first contact was ever encountered again. This was put in place so Humanity could come out swinging if they had to against another alien force as quickly as possible.

General Yuro was currently looking at the casualty report for the fifth time that day as she grew angry at the numbers. There were 96 Marine deaths as well as the loss of four Hunter bond brothers during that last assault. If she added the math up correctly there are at bare minimum 146 KIA and 155 WIA spanning from Human, Sangheili, Kig-Yar, and Unggoy alike. All the reinforcing companies were transferred back out to the front after the Batarians on the station capitulated because the AUR had a greater need for those troops for the final push to the Batarian homeworld.

 _This is fucking unacceptable!_ General Yuro huffed as she tossed the packet on her desk with a sigh as she tried to calm herself.

"General Yuro the Council is here to see you," Yuro's Sergeant Major poked his head through the door to say.

"Which one?" Yuro asked rubbing her temples.

"All of them, ma'am."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, they request to see you and the rest of the ambassadorial staff. We're making them wait at the front gate for now, what do you want to do?"

"Get the war room clear of clutter and escort the ambassadors and Council there for this 'visit'."

"On it, ma'am," the Sergeant Major left to accomplish his duties.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **I hope you all enjoyed the introduction of Fireteam Damocles and thank you Calidon Victus for the ONI spook OC. I will try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can, no promises because as you all know the line "never make a promise if you know you can't keep it" been trying to live by those lines. Just a heads up the next one will be dealing with politics between our two main factions if that final scene at the end didn't already make that 100% obvious.**


	19. Chapter 19: Politics How Tiresome

**Hello everyone! We are actually standing 50/50 right now in the poll results and I don't think I can begin the next arc until that has been decided so please go over and vote.**

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 **Star Chart: Serpent Nebula** **…**

 **Location: Citadel, Presidium, AUR Embassy…**

 **Date: 10 March 2560…**

 **Time: 09:46 military standard time…**

General Yuro walked down toward the location of the war room on the other side of the street from her office/living space. She had an angered aura around her, obviously not happy to be in this situation. There were six C-sec Officers covering one side of the door to the war room, two Asari, two Turians, and two Salarians all wearing full armor and armed with a rifle and a shotgun. On the other side, a half squad of UNSC Marines in full combat kit stood looking at the C-sec officers wearily, one Sangheili with Sergeant markings on his armor and an energy sword hilt on his thigh, three humans with plasma rifles in hand, and two Unggoy also equipped with plasma rifles. Yuro knew that the other half of the squad consisting of their marksmen would be far off with long-range weapons trained on the C-sec officers. A couple of the human marines were checking out the Asari and muttering to each other about their figures and to Yuro's surprise she heard their Sangheili sergeant chiming in to agree with his soldiers. This was a surprise because Sangheili was never that open about their preferences in partners away from their mate's side due to their honor bound nature but as she approached they immediately stopped their conversation to salute her as she made her way up.

"Ma'am, the Councilors are waiting inside, we're waiting on you," the marine sergeant stated.

"Good, carry on," Yuro said returning the salute and continuing into the war room.

"General Yuro, it is good to finally meet you in person," an Asari in an expensive looking dress obviously the Asari Councilor said in an overly polite tone, a tone that aristocrats before the Great War would use when they wanted something out of someone powerful and didn't get it. To her, it seemed like a political temper tantrum.

"It's very nice to meet you too Councilor," Yuro said putting on her best fake smile as she walked over to take her seat between the other representatives of the AUR. Yuro didn't bother remembering the names of the Councilors because she thought that she would be transferred out for someone a little more permanent in a month or so when tension calmed or that she would be holding off a siege off Council forces in that time.

When she got comfortable in her seat her tone dropped to a more serious one, "if you don't mind me getting straight to the point why did you want to meet with us? I'm a very busy woman and I don't have all day."

"Of course," the Asari Councilor cleared her throat as she took her seat to the left of her fellow Councilors, "we have come to a consensus and we are formally offering you and all the races under the banner of the Alliance of Unified Races a seat on the Citadel Council, we can have preparations for a ceremony done within the next week if you accept it."

The Asari Councilor had an overconfident look on her as she stopped talking, evidently, she saw this as a full proof plan, the Turian Councilor clenched his mandibles, obviously not thrilled by this decision in any sense of the word, and the Salarian looked disappointed yet hopeful like a kid waiting for a new toy.

Yuro looked to the other members of the AUR, letting a few minutes go by intense silence seeing if they would like to say anything before she responded. They had a contingency for this scenario, knowing full well that the Citadel Council would want them on their side for the wealth of technology alone.

"Councilor this is a very generous offer but sadly I nor any of my colleagues at this table have clearance to accept this offer," Yuro said slowly watching the Asari deflate, "chain of command and what not."

"Then who does?" the Salarian Councilor asked growing slightly impatient.

"The top government officials on our homeworlds," Yuro replied steepling her fingers in front of her as she gaged the reactions of the Councilors, two looked like their puppy just got kicked while the last was relieved at the news.

"Than could you schedule a meeting with them so we can negotiate with them?" the Asari Councilor questioned, being the first to speak out of the whole group after the bombshell was thrown.

"We can try but they are very busy with keeping their worlds running," Yuro stated giving off her best fake frown but was smiling on the inside, "although I can inform you what their decision would be if you'd like to know."

"And what would that be?" the Turian Councilor piped up for the first time in the meeting.

"Sadly it would be a unanimous, no," Yuro said.

"What?! Why?!" the Asari Councilor was flabbergasted at the answer, standing to her feet, the chair she sat in falling over from the sudden movement and biotics raging a purple-blue colored shimmer across her body.

"For number one: your stance on AI," Yuro's voice turned cold as steel, "AI is ingrained in our culture from the largest battleship to the smallest colony. We can not and will not bow to that demand because it will uproot our entire culture and send us into disarray."

Not hearing any words from the shocked still forms of the Citadel Council she continued, "Secondly, the Treaty of Farixen: by the very wording of your law our cruisers are considered dreadnoughts to your ship scaling and would leave our people vulnerable to our many enemies. Thirdly: your laws on Genetic Engineering, Spartans are genetically modified humans pushed passed human in most cases and are our best soldiers. We as a people refuse that." Yuro stopped talking gaging their reaction another time. The Asari looked like she was on the verge of passing out, the Turian was glaring daggers at her, and Salarian was staring blankly at her, mouth moving but no words came out.

"But those laws can be negotiated to fit your needs, even changed," the Salarian piped up.

"True but that would make you look weak in front of those with associate status in this Citadel and those things I listed off weren't even what deterred us in the first place," Yuro growled remembering the chat she had with the Krogan named Wrex that saved one of her squads and many civilians in the field. Said Krogan was at this moment on the Ark, sent there to plead the case of saving his people to both the Defense Committee, and the Species Preservation and Restoration Committee of the AUR.

"What would that entail General?" the Asari asked visibly shaking from fear.

"You have sentenced three races to extinction, ma'am. That we cannot tolerate or be associated with," Yuro said every word out of her mouth laced in venom, "the Rachni we could see as too much of a threat there to blame you but the Krogan and Quarians. That is absolutely unacceptable no matter what they did, that kind of slow death is not right, especially to those you still honor with a monument not 20 yards from your god damned tower and a race fleeing from their bastardized version of AI."

"Don't play the righteous one here human that is hypocritical coming from the organization that bombed a race back into the stone age!" the Turian growled slamming his fist into the table separating the two factions, making it shake from the force of the hit.

"We did not, they mostly did it to themselves vying for power over the other after the fall of the Covenant and their lies," the Sangheili Republic representative said calmly, with a hint of malic in his eyes, "we only exterminated those that were still attacking us. After a couple hundred years of evolution then maybe they will be proper enough to be fully uplifted as equals to the galaxy but they have been nothing but barbarians for the past couple thousand years."

"I suggest we move to another topic like trade to get us off each other's throats since this squawking like Jackle hatchlings isn't getting us anywhere or we can make our peace and return to our duties," the Veiled Dominion representative yawned fed up with this arguing, the AUR and Citadel Council had said their peace and he wanted the exchange done with.

"That would be for the best," the Asari Councilor said looking to her fellow Councilors, "we have more pressing matters to attend to, may the rest of you have a peaceful rest of the day."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Serpent Nebula** **…**

 **Location: Citadel Tower, Council Chamber…**

 **Date: 03/10/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 12:59 galactic standard time…**

The three Councilors sat in silence, still trying to comprehend and understand their meeting with the AUR delegates. Tevos was shell shocked, it was hard for her to take in the sear scope of the danger that the AUR possessed and they just let them in. Sure they had a fleet bearing down on them but there should have been something they could have done to prevent them from doing what they did. Sparatus stood against a wall indifferent, knowing it was a fool's errand to grant the AUR members a seat right from the get-go. He didn't feel pride in his win though due to the revelations that were brought up in the meeting, instead, it filled him with anger and fear. Thankfully he held back wanting to send a message to the Primarch to build more ships and prepare for war. Valern being the youngest among them on the Council rank wanted to speak his mind but he just couldn't think of anything to lessen the despair evident in the room.

"I told you that was a bad idea," Sparatus spoke up, being the first one to voice his mind, "the Hierarchy will want war for this, no way around it when they find out."

"Then they won't find out because you won't tell them," Tevos lashed out at the Turian Councilor before sighing and calming herself down, "at least not yet, they'll overpower us in conventional warfare. We need to sure up our defenses everywhere within our reach before we even think of doing something so brash as war."

"Then what should we do? We can't abolish the Treaty of Farixen without stirring up even more unrest, and their firepower is so much higher than our own that we don't have anything but numbers that can stop them," Sparatus hung his head in defeat, "we can barely handle the unrest that was caused by the setting up an embassy here."

"We need to set up defensive stations on our Relay hubs to help free up our fleets," Valern said in a cold tone, like he never planned to tell what he was about to, "my people have been experimenting with battle stations that could effectively operate as stationary Dreadnoughts but it never got anywhere because my government didn't put enough credits into the project."

"They saw it as too high risk and thought it made them look like they were planning war," Valern said in a fast tone wringing his hands together as if he were washing them of some unseen grime, "I can contact them if you want."

"That does solve one problem but it still ties in with the first problem," Sparatus stated, "the Treaty will need to be abolished in any hope to deal with the AUR or their enemies."

"Wait, their enemies, they hold most of the same power they do," Tevos beamed, "we could forge a secret alliance with them and when the time comes we can defeat them!"

"Impossible, they'd subjugate us or exterminate us like they tried to do to Humanity, which would then put the AUR under a very good light with our subjects because they saved us from destruction. Not to mention we don't know where they are located," Sparatus shot down her idea, _ancestors help us if we were unlucky enough to run into them first._

"We could state it to the Galactic community that it is an outdated system and we have much more enemies than what our current fleets can defend against," Valern suggested, "it would quell the unrest and allow us to build defenses without our people snooping around in unnecessary areas."

"Then that's what we'll do," Sparatus clenched his talons into a fist with a determined look in his eyes, "let us prepare."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Dark Space, Installation 00** **…**

 **Location: Capital City…**

 **Date: 03/10/2157 CE…**

 **Time: 12:59 galactic standard time…**

Wrex slowly moved along the streets of the main city of what the AUR called the "Ark" it was impressive, to say the least. He had gotten to see the massive station when he was transported here from the Citadel covertly with a few ambassadors from the Hanar, Volus, and Elcor who wanted to change sides to a much more equal coalition by the Spartan team that had won the Battle of the Citadel against the Batarian rebels on their stealth ship. The Citadel seemed puny compared to this thing. The Ark was obviously damaged from massive amounts of fighting from what he could tell when looking upon it from orbit but you could see no sign of combat from the ground of the station.

Wrex was accompanied by two dark sage green armored Spartans as part of his security detail, if Wrex didn't know any better he would have thought they weren't even there at all with how silent they were. He was currently being escorted by said Spartans to the main capitol building to state his case about his people. The other ambassadors did so over the course of the last three days with mixed results from their meetings, especially the Hanar and it's damned preaching which resulted in it being denied what it wanted. What the Hanar wanted Wrex didn't give a pyjacks shit about.

As Wrex walked up the stairs leading up to the main building a tall well built human male in a finely press military dress uniform walked out the front door looking out toward where Wrex was approaching. The uniform held hundreds of campaign stripes just about covering the entire left side of his chest, something which made Wrex feel like the man commanded respect. He noticed the Spartan insignia just above the campaign stripes as he got closer, explaining the overall size of the human compared to everyone else.

"General, sir," both of Wrex's Spartan guard stopped and saluted causing Wrex to stop as well being between them.

The General as he turned to face the Spartans and Wrex looked well set for human standards. He stood over both fully armored Spartans by a good couple inches. The General had a buzz cut brown fur on his head and slight stubble on his cheeks and chin. He along with all humans reminded him of what Quarians looked like under their masks. The General had a few scars on his face, one on the bridge of his nose stretching across to his right ear, one small inch sized one on his left cheek right under the eye running along his cheekbone, a scar separated the fur his left eyebrow and what looks like a couple very faded almost unseeable surgical scars on his forehead and chin. What most caught Wrex off guard was the Generals bright piercing blue eyes that held on him for just a moment. They stared at him with the calculating surgical look a veteran who spent his entire life from when he was a youngling until now on the battlefield, a look very few Krogan born after the deployment of the Genophage possessed. Those eyes had only been on him for a split second before he focused elsewhere but Wrex knew the human had the perfect way of ending his life if Wrex were to charge him right now.

"At ease Spartans," the General spoke in a deep voice, returning the salutes of the Spartans, "Urdnot Wrex we've been waiting."

"I decided to take the scenic route," Wrex grunted with amusement stretching his neck, "it isn't every day I get to see the sights on installations like this."

"Very true, especially for those of us that don't live on these stations regularly," the Spartan General said with a curt nod as he turned around to walk back inside expecting Wrex and the others to follow.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"The meeting of the Defense Committee, and the Species Preservation and Restoration Committee of the AUR and Wrex of Clan Urdnot on Tuchanka, may now begin," the synthetic voice of the room's AI said looking at Wrex, "this is being presented live to the citizens of the AUR be respectful to us and we will do the same for you."

 _AI, huh, they're more like Quarians than I thought, but more successful,_ Wrex thought bemused as he looked to the hardened faces before him. There were five in military dress uniforms and about 20 others in nice looking civilian clothes but still had the same hardness to them that their military counterparts had, obviously waiting on him to speak his peace.

"I come humbly to ask for assistance in saving my species from its extinction," Wrex spoke into the little microphone on the desk in front of him.

"From the reports we got from the Citadel Council was that your people were prematurely uplifted for a war that they were loosing and a few went to war with them over land and had a biological weapon dropped on your population to stop you from continuing your expansion," one of the military dressed humans with a half black half white pyramid logo on her uniform with a black ring in the middle said looking at a screen in front of her, "but we would like to know your side of the story to better help us understand and come to a conclusion. We know all too well that victors write the histories and that there are two sides to every story."

"It is true that we were brought to the wider galaxy prematurely to save the Citadel hides from the Rachni but after that war we were left to our own devices without the proper knowledge of anything in the galactic community beside the knowledge of how to wage war and only a few planets that you humans can count off the tips of your fingers on one hand," Wrex sighed not liking to admit to such things, "when we sought to expand to new planets we were stopped at every turn by the Citadel races and eventually we went to war with them over our right to colonize new systems. The reason why we were expanding was that my people used to be able to reproduce ten times faster than any race in the galaxy but after the war, we would be lucky for even a single live birth out of an entire generation. This, in turn, threw my people into war with itself over the one in a million females that could produce offspring at all, a war that is still being fought on my homeworld to this day."

The silence in the hall was quiet enough that you could hear a pin drop and the boiling anger among those in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The only ones that didn't show their emotions were the Spartan General and the one with the pyramid on her uniform all the others had fury in their eyes. The silence lasted for several minutes before one of the civilian looking ones spoke up, "Admiral is what he's saying true?"

"Yes," the Admiral with the pyramid logo confirmed after she looked through something on her screen, what the was Wrex couldn't see from where he was, "I think that's enough for a vote."

The assembled looked to have put their votes in from what Wrex could see and it was making him angst. There were no squabbling, just hushed conversations as they pressed their votes and after a good ten minutes of sitting the AI picked up its voice again, "the votes have been finalized, 50% are in favor, 5% unsure and 45% opposed."

"It's decided then we will assist with saving your race but we will need something first," a darker skin woman most likely the human President of the humans if he was correct from the signs about her outside.

"And what would that be?" Wrex growled in annoyance with the wait already.

"We need your race to be on a united front, do you happen to know of anyone among the Krogan race that can fit this role?" the woman asked.

"I can only those in Clan Urdnot my clan and one of the largest, I have many allies in there can easily gain the chieftainship of my clan and can lead them to a more peaceful path," Wrex suggested, "though I may need assistance once I start trying to unite my people."

"What prey and tell is that?" the oldest human among the military section in a white military dress uniform asked.

"The Citadel will most likely want me stopped and even assassinated if you could provide orbital support to keep the Council off my quad than that would be perfect," Wrex stated, standing.

"Then this meeting is adjourned for all non-military personnel, Generals, Admirals I leave the rest to you to plan out," the human leader said standing to her feet, "when we meet again Wrex of Clan Urdnot I hope it is as the leader of your people."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **There you go, the Citadel Council is scheming and plans are being made for the revival of the Krogan by the empathy of humanity. I hope you enjoyed this little deviation from the combat and we'll be right back into the thick of it next chapter. I really did think long and hard about how things would play out and this is what I came up with so sorry to those who expected more. Oh and one last thing I wonder who can spot the cameo Halo character in this chapter.**


	20. Chapter 20: HEADHUNTING Season II

**So I was looking at the poll before I uploaded this and I couldn't help but laugh. Both choices are still neck and neck, I might have to flip a coin if this keeps up.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Spekilas** **…**

 **Location: Target Zone Lima…**

 **Date: 10 March 2560…**

 **Time: 00:50 military standard time…**

"What do you see?" Florian asked from beside Elijah as they looked onto the Batarian habitat from a high ridge 5 clicks off from the enemy. Chance was holding the warthog just in case the Batarians had any patrols out this far from their base. They didn't have patrols out this far of course but it pays well to be prepared for anything.

The team had spent the last few days checking the entrances to the Batarian compound, tracking guard shifts, patrol patterns, checkpoint stations, and AA batteries. The habitat looked like a biodome with a small city inside being viewed out of the transparent shimmering cover allowing easy sight into the habitat most likely a type of energy shielding. On the dome were in total three different points of entry one facing North, one facing South East and one last one to the South West most likely leading to the other habitats across the planet. All the entrances were monorail transport systems with five tracks leaving the habitat and five entering the habitat on each system. Currently, all systems but one were covered in remotely activated plasma charges, each carrying the individual power of a plasma torpedo in their cases. At least ten different anti-starship batteries were set up with the barrels pointing out of the top of the dome along with 40 some odd anti-air emplacements were pockmarking the areas surrounding the orbital batteries and the outside of the habitat.

"Same makeup as the other entrances, standard four-man patrol with the same pattern and about five different checkpoints leading in," Elijah stated shifting slightly as he looked at the area below them, "still no sign on how they're holding up that energy shield, the emitter is probably inside. I really wish we had a couple of those RHINOs right now, they were pretty good at taking out shields like this during the Battle of Arcadia."

"Agreed," Florian sighed, wishing they had at least one of those tanks as well.

"What's the plan on this one?" Elijah asked looking toward the monorail system, "we'll need that to get in."

"True, let's get back to your partner to plan this out," Florian ordered as he started crawling his way back.

"So how does it look?" Chance asked as Florian and Elijah came into view.

"No harder to crack than the other openings," Elijah shrugged, "I don't think we brought enough firepower to take the AA out though."

"We can improvise," Clance looked to Florian, "you got a plan?"

"I was thinking of activating the charges on the other two monorails and sneaking into the habitat this way but we will need someone to distract Batarian infantry and hold them at bay on that side of the habitat," Florian looked toward Chance eyeing his armor, "how long do you think you could hold out against the Batarians before your armor begins to fail?"

"Two companies worth, right? I'd give it 14 maybe 15 minutes tops if I have proper mobility equipment and the heaviest weapons in our gear," Chance responded after a second to calculate the numbers.

"That should be all time we'll need to get in to complete the mission," Florian sighed crossing his arms as he looked up to look at Chance's faceplate, "take what you'll need, we'll wait for you to detonate the charges before making our move."

"Sir," Chance nodded.

"Good luck bud," Elijah said tapping Chance's left shoulder as he put the sniper rifle away and replaced it with an M90A Tactical Shotgun, "you die out there I'll drag you back to the land of the living and kill you myself."

"Then I won't, if the flood couldn't stop me then these fools certainly won't be able to," Chance chuckled, grabbing a jetpack out of one of the crates along with an M805X thruster equipment module and setting them on his back along with one of their two M6 G/GNR Spartan Lasers for anti-vehicle firepower and his Flame/Cryo thrower the weapon he doesn't go anywhere without. Chance immediately ran off to his position with an air of deathly intent, "and I'm taking the warthog, might need a fast escape."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 _3… 2… 1…,_ Chance counted in his head as he overlooked the land before him. He was standing out in the open between the two monorail systems that the charges were planted on. The charges hadn't gone off how they'd plan on due to the interference of the planet so he had to rewire them to work of a ten-minute timer and as he counted one both tram systems exploded in a massive series of bright bluish-purple light causing sirens to start blaring from the habitat. To his left and right, Chance could make out troops pouring out of the emergency exits right toward him. He counted ten APCs in both groups supported by at least a platoon each.

 _That's way too few,_ Chance thought with a scowl as he hefted the Spartan Laser in one hand using the extra servos in his suit's arms to aim it more effectively with one hand as he zeroed in on the closest APC to his right and let the beam charge to full power before letting a brilliant line of ruby light score through the APC setting it light with fire before the low oxygen levels on the planet snuffed it out and the vehicle came to a stop, mission dead.

Before any heavy long-range firepower erupted around him Chance used the jetpack on his back to reposition. Just barely missing the ground below him get turned into a mass of high reactive exploding rounds, the shrapnel and debris harmlessly deflecting off or disintegrating on his energy shield. As he landed he aimed again at another APC with the Spartan Laser and shot the piercing beam through it but this time also catching two Batarian infantrymen in the crossfire, boiling them alive in their armor.

Using his thruster equipment, Chance dashed to the side after feeling a hail of small arms fire ripple across the shields on his back causing them to fall by 1/16th as he settled the Spartan Laser to its resting place, two shot left in the weapon. After settling on his feet from the thrust he immediately used the jetpack to jump over the squad of Batarian soldiers using the cryo thrower mode on his main weapon to flash freeze them before landing in their midst with a shock wave so powerful that it shattered the frozen bodies to large pieces of assorted body parts. Jumping backward using the thrusters on his suit, Chance threw a sticky grenade onto the gun barrel of an APC to his front, watching it explode in another haze of blue as he slammed into a couple of Batarian soldiers trying to flank him, crushing the man under the impact.

Switching to the flamethrower function, Chance quickly flambeed two squads of Batarians taking cover behind the first APC he destroyed. Taking a look at his fuel he quickly noticed a 1/4th drop in fuel consumption on the flamethrower side and a 1/8th drop in the cryo thrower.

 _They better be inside that damn compound by now,_ Chance grit his teeth as he took a direct shot to the left side from another APC, dropping his shields to 1/4th power and flinging him a good two meters before he got back to his feet. As he looked around him he saw there was now more than two platoons and 20 APCs, _looks like I caught their full attention._

 **XXXXXXXX**

Florian and Elijah watched as the bluish-purple explosions went off from under the overpass of the monorail system they were using to enter the Batarian habitat. They watched from the shadows as the Batarians around their hiding spot abandoned their posts to rush off and deal with the enemy on the other side of the habitat. As they left Florian signaled with hand signs for Elijah to head in and they moved quietly until they reached the habitat energy dome. As Florian stepped closer, he set his hand out to touch the shield bubble but was easily able to pass through it. Thumbing up to Elijah both hesitantly stepped fully through the barrier.

"Captain, I have access to my motion tracker," Elijah said after passing through the protective bubble of the habitat. Looking down to the bottom left of his hud Florian could see the same.

"They must be blocking out the interference with the energy shield," Florian mused for a second, "still double check anything that pops up on your tracker we don't know how much of our trackers is still buggy."

"Affirmative," Elijah nodded.

"Good, let's get going," Florian continued into the maze of hab blocks, immediately turning a corner to find a little Asari girl no more than three or four years old in what could be considered rages balled up against a wall staring at him with a scared and wondrous look in her eye like she never saw anything so amazing in her short life effectively making him stop in his tracks.

"Are you here to save us?" the little thing asked sniffling as she looked into Florian's reflective visor, "mommy and daddy said angles from the sky would come to save us from the bad monsters," This made Florian's heart shatter and anger fuel him as he looked at the little girl with pleading hope in her eyes, "you are aren't you? Mommy and daddy are never wrong."

"Yes, yes we are, little one," Florian said as he looked around him before dropping to a knee and unpolarized his visor, to show as friendly a smile as he could muster, "what's your name? I'm Drake."

"Voli," the little girl said hesitantly as she uncurled herself showing several welts and bruises dotting her scaly skin.

"Do you know where your parents are Voli?" Florian asked looking around the deserted street.

"Mommy and daddy were taken by the monsters, the only reason I'm still here is that mommy told me to hide," Voli responded quietly as she continued sobbing.

"Sir, what's the hold... up?" Elijah asked approaching from behind the ONI spook but slowly trailed off as he saw the child. Voli backed up into her ball again out of fear at the skull like helmet Elijah was wearing.

"Hey, look at me," Florian ordered tapping Voli's arm gently, "you need to find somewhere to hide little one, the angels need to punish the bad monsters."

"Okay," Voli compiled standing up slowly, rushing off in a random direction and ducking into an alley.

"When we find the leader of this damn place, you're clear to make his death as painful as you see fit," Florian growled, feeling disgusted at this place, "just make sure to clean up after yourself once you're done."

"Sir, yes sir," Elijah growled back as they continued down the street

 **XXXXXXXX**

Chance panted as he pushed his jetpack as hard as he could to get away from the Batarian hoard he just shook like a hornet's nest. His weapons were completely depleted of fuel and his armor was pockmarked by rifle fire, scorched by explosions and caked in frozen blood and mud. He had successfully drawn out most if not all the Batarian soldiers inside the domed habitat. From what his kill count in the top left of his HUD said equaled out to approximately three platoons worth of death on his end. He'd have to trade notes with the other HEADHUNTERs and Spartans once he got back to the _Spirit of Fire_.

"I'm going to be sore in the morning after this shit is done," Chance talked to himself as he landed and turned back to see that he'd just been able to crest the cliff he'd been aiming for. Looking down the cliff slightly he could see a couple of hundred Batarians clawing after him, most shooting wildly in his direction, very few bullets actually finding its mark on him and those that did were easily deflected off by his slowly recharging energy shield. As he was about the turn and continue his escape a sniper round pinged off his helmet, jerking his head back from the impact. Growling and giving one curt middle finger, Chance attempted to jump away again but found his jetpack out of fuel as well. So he took it off and chucked it down the cliff to hit any bastard unlucky enough to be caught in the hunk of metal's way as it spiraled toward them. He hoped it would hit the cocky sniper that took that lucky shot.

"Looks like I'm walking back to the warthog, just my luck," Chance mumbled to himself as he took off at a dead sprint, "on the bright side the others won't have to deal with as much now."

 **XXXXXXXX**

 _Our 15 minutes must be up,_ Florian thought as he and Elijah took cover in an alleyway while a full squad of Batarian soldiers marched past with a rather large collection of slaves in one long line, bound by chains. There were at least 20 slaves in total, Quarian if Florian's report on the Council races was correct, with 10 Batarian soldiers herding them along at gunpoint. These slaves were coming out of looked like a reactor control room, given the Quarians nack for engineering it was safe to say that this was the correct it was the correct presumption.

"We're going to need those Quarians," Florian whispered, watching as they passed.

"I got the ones on the left near the front, you take the ones on the right," Elijah whispered as he scaled the building next to their position.

Elijah and Florian waited until one was unlucky enough to walk too close to Florian's hiding spot and was immediately yanked into Florian's cover. As Florian pulled the Batarian in he simultaneously pulled his combat knife from his chest holster and sunk the blade deep through one side of the Batarian man's throat and out the other. The blade passed into the gap of the protective armor plates, rending the soft flesh of his neck, severing arteries, and muscles with the serrated blade. The motion was swift and practiced from years of experienced on the battlefield, cutting off the scream of fear and pain before it could form, instead, leaving a quiet gurgling whimper to escape the man's mouth as he choked and drowned on his own blood. After the sounds and the jolts from the Batarian stopped completely and the body finally fell limp in his hands, Florian softly laid him down on his back with his hands resting on his chest as a, first and last respect, to the fallen soldier and taking his keys in the process.

Elijah, on the other hand, had taken a much more direct route as he silently dropped down into an adjacent alleyway from Florian. There was a Batarian soldier standing in the opening of the alley with his back facing away from Elijah allowing the HEADHUNTER to walk up behind the Batarian, put his shotgun to the back of his knee and squeeze the trigger. As Elijah fired sending off a bang so loud that it made the assembled mob jump in panic. The buckshot splattered the man's knee across the ground in a gory mess of bone, muscle, shattered armor pieces, and blood causing the Batarian to scream in agony as he lost his leg from the knee down, quickly throwing him into shock from the wound and passed out. As the other eight Batarians saw this they quickly recovered from seeing one of their own be brutally brought down and started to open fire upon Elijah.

As soon as they concentrated fire on Elijah, he quickly lifted the dead or dying Batarian at his feet in front of him to ward off the combined arms fire, rattling the body with gunshot holes after the bullets overpowered his shield. Elijah advanced through the fire, gore from the body in one hand splattering all over his armor. The HEADHUNTER quickly through the body into the closest Batarian near him, killing the Batarian from the sudden weight and velocity of the body of his battle buddy flying at him, caving in his chest plate from the force and causing him to vomit blood up as his ribs punctured through his lungs. As he threw the body Elijah pumped his shotgun chambering another round and shot twice blowing the forehead off the next closest Batarian soldier painting his brain, helmet pieces, bone and blood all over the cowering, frightened Quarians unlucky enough to be caught in the splash zone, and the far wall in a sickly, sticky coloration.

Florian hearing this commotion stepped out of the cover of his hiding spot and shot the closest Batarian soldier to him in the head with two clean, booming shots from his magnum. The first shot popping his kinetic barrier and the second punching straight through the Batarian's helmeted head. Hearing someone charge him from behind, Florian elbowed the Batarian behind him with his armored arm as he turned, stunning the soldier just long enough for him to get his magnum so close that it negated the kinetic barrier and popped two shots straight into his chest. As the body dropped, Florian took out his combat knife again and threw it into the chest of another Batarian soldier to his left about ten feet away, sticking it deep into the man's chest toppling him over and sent another two shots toward another on his right, ripping right through the Batarian's throat. Elijah quickly switched to his battle rifle and sent two three-round bursts at the last two Batarians on his side of the formation, dropping them immediately as they tried to run away in fear.

"Clear," Elijah grunted, turning toward the crowd of Quarians huddling murmuring in hushed tones, "what do we do with them?"

"Grab the kinetic barrier emitters, weapons and ammo from the corpses," Florian ordered as he walked over to the Quarians that scooted back as soon as he walked toward them, they stopped as he put his weapon away and held his hands out in a non threatening way, with the keys he had grabbed in one of them. Elijah just nodded gathering the equipment he was told to grab.

As Florian started unlocking the Quarian group's chains one of the older female ones that had a slightly hunched back asked, "why are you doing this, who are you?"

"I'm Captain Drake Florian, field operative of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Alliance of Unified Races. I've been tasked along with the scary one over there..." Florian used his translator to reply, nodding to Elijah as he looted the bodies, "to liberate you and everyone else in this habitat."

"Are you Citadel Council? I've never heard of an organization like yours or anyone like you and your friend," the Quarian questioned as her shackles were unlocked.

"We're new and much more competent than those Citadel pricks, only reason we're here is because the Batarians tried to do the same thing to my people that they did to yours," Florian answered, "now we're making them pay by freeing all their slave labor, you know the moral thing."

At this, the old Quarian chuckled, "thank you."

"Don't thank me," Florian shook his head after he unlocked the last Quarian and Elijah set the weapons, ammo, and shields down, "you'll still need to fight for yourselves."

"Here, you dropped this," Elijah said handing Florian his knife back.

"Everyone that can handle a rifle and knows at least the basics of fighting, pick one up and grab a kinetic barrier while you're at it," Florian ordered to the assembled Quarians, most looking on with shock at what he wanted them to do, "if you want your freedom and or revenge on those who have enslaved you, you have to fight for it." At his words, two Quarians stepped up grabbing a rifle, a couple of magazines of ammo and a kinetic barrier, equipping them to their suits which lead to more taking up arms at the other twos examples.

"Here's the plan, five of you will stay here with those unarmed, you will protect the ones not armed as they shut the AA and orbital guns down, understood?" receiving nods from the collected armed Quarians, "the others will bring together any other slave that is found from the street and will secure the local sector armory. What you do after that is up to you, get out of here, try and secure the other sectors or hold the line in this sector is completely up to you. Although I don't advise shooting at us."

"You are free to do as you see fit," Florian said looking to each and every one of them, knowing full well that he had just signed these freed slaves death sentences but it was necessary. Florian needed a distraction since Chance had done what he could but there was still a sizable Batarian presence in the area and the freed slaves were his only option.

"What will you be doing?" one Quarian asked from the back, one that was unarmed.

"We are going to cut the head off the snake," Florian looked at the crowd again as they looked at him puzzledly, _yes... right aliens,_ "kill the master of this place," this time receiving looks of understanding passed through the crowd.

"If you want to know where that _bosh'tet_ is, he's in the center of this Keelah damned hole!" another one stated one of the first two to pick up one of the weapons.

"Thank you, I wish you all the best of luck," Florian sighed as he and Elijah split away from the Quarians, "We need to call the pelican in, Chance should already be on it. I saw a clear area to land about two clicks to the North West bearing 320, it's on top of a building."

"Yeah, I saw the same thing," Elijah nodded falling in beside Florian, "it is quite a detour to our objective though."

"We do need to reposition so we don't get caught in the crossfire of this artificial rebellion," Florian reminded the HEADHUNTER, "plus the Owl will have back up and the much-needed firepower for us to punch our way in easier."

"True, I'll call it in," Elijah nodded using his tac-pad in his wrist to call for the stealth transport.

Florian, Chance, and Elijah took the next four hours slowly creeping along in the Owl due to not wanting to distort the stealth field around them. As they did this, they heard gunfire in the land behind them. From what they could make out by tapping into Batarian battle net, the freed slaves were holding their own pretty well, which would mean that they would have a much easier time eliminating their target. If the freed slaves were right than the Batarian bureaucrat would be just four blocks away.

Looking out the cockpit Elijah and Florian looked at the target building that was quite easy to spot being the tallest building in the whole habitat, Chance was using his suits connection with the stealth ship to watch the cameras. By tallest it was around six stories in height, still dwarfed by the now inactive, powerless anti-starship cannons around it. The building was more like a luxury compound with large, decorated outer defense walls dotted with automated sentry turret emplacements, obviously working on a different power supply than the AA equipment on the rest of the habitat. Using the motion tracker and long-range cameras built into the Owl they could see on said walls, at least 15 Batarian shock troopers patrolled at any given time with at least twice that number patrolling the courtyard and garden around the building. The Batarian soldiers on the inside were moving in teams of two, one leading a reptilian-like dog thing around sniffing at everything that it gets within snout range.

" _I say we land on the roof and cut our way in,"_ Chance called over the Owl's loudspeakers, _"they won't be able to detect us."_

"That's the plan," Florian replied looking to the cockpit door to the cargo hold, "we're just waiting for an opening."

"I see one far side of the roof," Elijah commented and pushed the Owl to the other side where a guard was stepping away.

"Alright, people get a move on. I'll keep the Owl in the air, good hunting," Florian ordered taking the controls as Elijah hopped out of his chair and followed Chance out the back exit ramp. After they disembarked Florian pulled up and watched as Chance used his Flamethrower like a blow torch and cut a large hole in the roof for him and Elijah to jump down.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **(AN: I'm not sure if this part should have the rating be switched to M or not. I'll let you guys decide in the reviews but for now, it's going to stay with the T rating.)**

Inside the building as Elijah and Chance jumped through the hole, they spotted a batarian soldier with a glass of liquid staring at them in shock and fear. Before the Batarian could make a sound, Elijah chopped him in the throat with his lightning-fast reflexes in the process breaking his neck from the chop and stored the body in an adjacent closet to them. It looked like they'd cut their way into an empty barracks with two rows of six beds lining either wall, which meant they didn't have long before anyone else spotted them.

"clear,' Elijah whispered as he peeked out the door. There was no one there so they moved silently as possible, checking each and every room they came across. After several minutes of this, they decided to stick with rooms that had some sort of guard on it, quicking dispatching the soldiers and finding a couple of armory rooms but that was it.

After killing the guard of the last secure room, they entered. Chance up front with his stronger shields and armor and Elijah in back providing overwatch. As they walked in they found what looked to be a brig of some sort but as they got closer to the cages they could smell the stench of decay and saw what it held. The room held at least 40 mixed females of the Salarian, Asari, Turian and Batarian races all in various states of rags. Their bodies were bruised and cut heavily from what Elijah could tell was a whip, most likely some sort of flogging. All of the women looked broken, unmoving and if their eyes weren't moving toward Elijah and Chance they have looked dead in those cells. As they got a better look at the slaves there among the living were several quarian female bodies, their suits torn in many places with major infections on the bodies where the skin was exposed and or cut.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Chance murmured looking away from the cell. Elijah just looked at his partner with an emotionless look under his helmet before turning to the cell again.

"Who did this?" Elijah asked the slaves using his translator to speak the Asari language as they were the more numerous of the slaves in the cell. He didn't receive a verbal answer only the shaky finger of a rather old and crippled looking Asari in the front pointing toward the right, toward the door opposite to the one they came here through.

"Thank you," Elijah nodded, pumping a shell into his shotgun.

" _Fireteam Damocles, the silent alarm is going off,"_ Florian called over comms, _"you have ten minutes before the alarm reaches the target get a move on you're close."_

"Copy, we'll get it done," Elijah responded coldly, "he's mine, you stay out here, stop any reinforcements from entering."

"Don't take too long," Chance said with a nod as he walked back to the door they came in from.

"I won't," Elijah growled as he stepped up to the door of his target. Of course, it was sealed, the red glowing hologram on it making it quite obvious. Elijah set his shotgun on his back and pulled a chip from his helmet containing the proper software to hack the door open and swiped it through the red hologram instantly turning it green and opened. As it opened Elijah saw the target laughing as he whipped a naked and bound Asari across the back causing her to scream out in pain and jolt from the impact of the weapon on the one smooth scaly skin of her back now scared over by the years of abuse.

"I thought I told you I wasn't supposed to be disturbed?!" the Batarian holding the whip growled in his guttural language and translated through into his helmet in English. The Batarian turned with a mixture of annoyance and pleasure on his face from his barbaric activity. That look, immediately turned to one of horror as he processed the armed bulk of Elijah standing there unholstering his shotgun.

"You've had a security breach," Elijah said, face impassive under his helmet as he shot a shell off into one of the Batarian aristocrat's legs, from the distance it didn't do much due to the spread but the pellets that did hit made the Batarian fall to a knee in pain.

Walking past the downed screaming Batarian, he untied the Asari woman and escorted her to the door but she stopped smacked her master as hard as her broken frame would allow and stole his Omni-tool before Elijah grabbed her gently and finished escorting her out of the room. The Asari woman ran as fast as she could toward the cells of her friends and proceeded to unlock the cell energy shields. Elijah didn't linger watching the Asari long as he heard the sound of a weapon being pulled out behind him, instinctively he turned and fired. The target's weapon and hand exploded from the shells causing the man to shriek in unbearable pain, gripping the shredded bloody stump of where a hand once was.

"You know, I wanted to take my time, make it personal. I like to make my targets feel every ounce of pain I inflict upon them, you can relate if what I just saw in here and in those pens were anything to go by," Elijah let out a sigh in disappointment as he closed the door to the room and locked it before turning to look at the defeated Batarian again, "but I'm going to have to make this quick," Elijah chuckled madly as he approached the wounded Batarian putting his shotgun away, "it doesn't mean I still can't have fun now can I?"

"Please, I'll give you whatever you want, credits, women... ANYTHING!" the Batarian pleaded on his knees as he backed away with fear in his voice, "just let me live!"

"Anything you say?" Elijah asked in mock curiosity with a sadistic smile hidden under his skull-shaped helm, a smile of an alpha predator playing with its food. Evidently, the Batarian didn't catch on to Elijah's tone because he nodded, a hope of getting out gleaming in his eyes it was probably due to the blood loss from where his hand used to be.

"That's right anything you can ever want, I can provide you if you get me out of here," the Batarian stood up on shaky legs and approached the augmented human standing before him, "is it a deal?"

"Sure, why not?" Elijah extended his hand out to the Batarian, "You have my word."

the Batarian shakily put his hand in the HEADHUNTER's and like a bear trap, Elijah crushed every finger in the Batarian's hand. The Batarian let out a bloody cry at the severe pain shooting up his arm through his brain. As Elijah let go, he kicked the Batarian in the back of the knee, forcing the alien down.

"I THOUGHT WE HAD A DEAL!" the Batarian panicked as the HEADHUNTER picked up the whip the Batarian had been using to torcher the Asari before he came in.

"Oh, we do~" Elijah chuckled, "what I want is to hear you _scream_."

The Spartan tied the whip around the bicep of the arm that lost the hand to make a makeshift tourniquet. In the process, Elijah used all his strength to break the bone in said bicep with a sickening crunch and crack. The Batarian grunted in pain this time, trying to not to give the crazed Spartan in front of him any more enjoyment from his torment.

 _"Damocles you don't have long,"_ Florian radioed over comms, _"whatever you're up to make it quick."_

"Working on it, the little bastard has himself locked inside a panic room and it's a pain in the ass to get open," Elijah lied doing little to hide the dissatisfaction in his voice as he turned off his comms and removed his helmet, setting it in a chair near the door. Elijah looked into the lower pair of eyes on the Batarian's face with a sneer trying to figure out which set to look at, "that's better, a little bit of privacy while we enjoy ourselves."

"I think I'm going to pop a pair of those eyes of your's because I have no idea which one I'm supposed to look at," Elijah stated as he drew his combat knife from his armor.

"Please... no..." the Batarian whimpered, the telltale smell of piss polluting the air and puddling at the Batarian's knees, having released his blatter out of fear. Not uncommon for anyone under this kind of attention.

"What a disgusting race," Elijah waved his free hand in front of his face to wave away the smell before he seized the Batarian by the head to keep the thing still and slowly twisted his blade into one of the lower eyes, savoring the screams and thrashing movements coming from the Batarian as the eye _popped_ splattering a little blood across his armored chest. He did the same thing to its partner next to it, receiving a lesser reaction from the result.

"STOP!" the Batarian yelled out thrashing in Elijah's grip and slamming the broken remains of his hands into the Spartan's chest, trying to break free, to no success, "S-SOMEONE HELP ME... PLEASE... GET HIM AWAY FROM ME!"

"Elijah! let's go we've got reinforcements bearing down on our asses, we have to go!" Chance banged on the door.

"I guess we have to this sort," Elijah sighed to the Batarian's relief, "but I have one last gift for you."

Elijah stuck his combat knife into the Batarian's gut causing said Batarian to look into the Spartan's eyes with shock as he felt his guts split open. The Spartan had made a six-inch wide incision into his guts and laid him on his back as he pulled his knife free. As he did so he used his other hand to shove his last plasma charge that he saved for this occasion into the wound and forced the Batarian's hands over it to cover it up and put pressure on the wound.

"As I said I'm keeping you alive. Tell you're friends I send my regards," Elijah winked at the Batarian on the floor holding his guts in with a stump ad a badly mauled hand. Elijah then cleaned his knife and hands off on the Batarian's bed sheets before putting back on his helmet and walked out of the room.

"Target eliminated," Elijah said into his comm with a slight sigh as he faced Chance sitting there with multiple burned and frozen Batarian bodies scattered around the room.

" _Copy that, the Batarian patrol teams have all entered the building, get to the roof now for extfil,"_ Florian ordered, _"we'll let the Kig-Yar handle the rest."_

"Understood on our way," Elijah responded, looking to Chance, "the slaves?"

"On the Owl, as we should be," Chance shook his head in frustration at the site behind his teammate, "I hope you had your fill."

"For now," Elijah said, not looking back as he walked past and into the hall.

Elijah and Chance made their way out the same way they got in, meeting no resistance so far, only the charred remains of what stood in Chance's way when he was escorting the slaves to the exit. As they reached the Owl and took off they could see multiple areas where smoke billowed into the "sky" from prolonged fighting. It looked like the freed slaves had decided to push out and fully fight back against their former masters, habitat wide. Taking one last look back at the building they just evacuated Elijah signaled for the charge he placed to explode, purple flames billowing from it before collapsing. The slaves that were on the Owl cheered in glee at the site of the building of their oppressor go up in flames. As the hatch closed multiple phantom dropships and old Banshee strike craft descended spilling plasma across the Batarian lines.

 _Another mission down,_ Elijah sat back closing his eyes, feeling like taking a nap, _today was a good day._

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Another one down, another one bites the dust, YEAH!... okay I'll stop.**

 **I hoped you enjoyed what I did with this chapter, it felt a little off for me because I'm not used to writing something like that last scene so sorry if you found that a bit cringe-worthy. Don't forget to vote on the poll.**


	21. Chapter 21: The Underground War

**Hi everyone here's a new chapter for you after an extremely long case of writer's block, sorry about that. So a few things before we jump into the thick of it. This arc will be coming to an end in the next chapter and my poll will only be up for about two more weeks if you want to vote on it. And as you could see on the way in I changed the summary because I felt like this new one fit more with what I'm going for. All in all, this has been really fun to write so far, thank you all for your continued support of this project and let's get on into the story.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan…**

 **Location: Aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire**_ **…**

 **Date: 10 March 2560…**

 **Time: 09:00 military standard time…**

Ellen Anders sat in her post on the UNSC _Spirit of Fire,_ coffee mug in hand as she looked through the data of the underground complex that the ground forces were trying to break into. She had been at this for the past three days, trying and failing to find any way for them to flank their underground foe without assigning engineer companies to dig around the outside of the fortress. From what she could gather from the information there were no entrances that any person could fit through so the only way they could possibly win this war in a timely manner was to throw everything they had at it until it eventually breaks… or they could try to leverage the Batarian ambassador in their care to call for the immediate surrender of the last remaining troopers but he didn't have the political power to do so and she still hadn't received word from the HEADHUNTERs she sent to improve the political power of said ambassador.

The battle of the underground had already claimed the lives of ten Spartans already and dozens more wounded just by the concentrated fire of the Batarian weapon emplacements coupled with overlapping fields of small arms fire. Whoever this Batarian commander was he was a rather smart man for being able to hold off the AUR invasion force for as long as he has and it was making her higher-ups at HIGHCOM impatient and angry about the loss of hundreds of thousands of credits to even claim this thing. Stack all of this on top of the guerilla war on the surface of the planet by what remained of the surviving Batarian divisions and ensuring paperwork made everyone in the system combat commands job a living hell to even attempt to make things go smoothly.

"Just give me some good news for once that's all I ask," Ellen groaned into her hands in frustration and exhaustion until she got a ping on her message folder, "finally."

 **United Nations Space Command Priority Transmission 68831G-44**

 **Encryption Code:** _Blue_

 **Public Key:** _File /Excised Access Alpha/_

 **From:** _Captain_ **[REDACTED] [REDACTED]** _Known Alias: Drake Florian, Field Operative Office of Naval Intelligence, UNSC Geisha_

 **To:** _Captain Ellen Anders Ph.D., Hades War Congregation, Office of Naval Intelligence Regional Commander (Service Number: 50049-31128-EA)_

 **Subject:** _Mission report for planet_ _Spekilas_

 **Classification:** _RESTRICTED (BGX Directive)_

 _/Start File/_

 _The attack on Spekilas has been completed as assigned by mission parameters, under the seven days allotted time frame. We had to improvise our way in using slaves we'd freed as a distraction to give us a clear shot toward the target. In the short term, I believe this brought the slaves some hope of salvation, in the long term my decision to use the slaves to fight their masters should make them highly loyal to us once we get a puppet state in place. Although on further analysis, we will need to have an occupying force here to keep both potential terrorists, the Citadel, and the puppet state from getting any bright ideas._

 _As far as the mission went, no Spartan casualties were reported to me by any of the HEADHUNTER Fireteams assigned to this mission. Slave casualties are still being compiled by War Congregation DAWN at the time of this transmission as well as their main assault starting on the planet. Expect a second report when numbers have been confirmed and double checked. All helmet cam footage has also been delivered as requested in a separate file below, although one Spartan Elijah's may have taken the target out with some more_ 'extreme' _measures._

 _/File 1 End Click "ENTER" To Open File 2/_

"That's very good," Ellen sat back in her seat with a sigh of relief, "Isabel, please get this second file looked through and get the pictures of all the KIA bureaucrats bodies sent to my personal holo-pad, please."

" _It will take me a minute but it will be done,"_ Isabel replied from her avatar on the far side of the bridge.

"Oh, and don't forget to get a copy of this to the Admiral as well," Ellen ordered as she got up and proceeded to walk out of the bridge with a smile on her face.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Spekilas…**

 **Location: Onboard the UNSC** _ **Reprieve**_ **…**

 **Date: 10 March 2560…**

 **Time: 09:44 military standard time…**

"Good morning citizens of the AUR, my name Benjamin Giraud coming to you live from hangar 5-B on the UNSC _Reprieve_ a medical ship of the War Congregation Dawn..." Benjamin said to his camera drone, trying to properly fix the fitting of his standard issue helmet as multiple groups of aliens from the Citadel races were offloaded from mixtures of Pelican and Phantom Dropships. The reason they were being brought to the medical boats was that it would be the only place to hold them all until the other ships were done offloading their complements of soldiers, not to mention the malnutrition and possible wounds that were inflicted upon them made being brought to a place like this their best bet.

After revealing the truth about ONI's secret and unethical ways of creating the Spartan IIs and IIIs, Benjamin had decided to switch from doing interviews and shiny propaganda releases back to actually reporting the news from the front lines. The way he figured it, if things had gone wrong when he uncovered the Spartan program and if the Queen of ONI didn't have his back for his snooping around then he'd most likely be dead or rotting in a hole where no one in the galaxy would be able to find him, not to mention he had always found purpose with front line reporting, actually finding a taste for it during the battle of New Mombasa. Although the six months of military basic before being cleared for this job was a pain in the ass now he at least knew how to defend himself.

"What you see behind me is the byproduct of UNSC intervention with the Skyllian Blitz," Benjamin waved to the scene of scared and awed people being loaded out into the semi-safe environment of the hospital ship played out, allowing the drone to pan over the hangar catching every single shred of movement, "with the help of our brave men and women of the UNSC these slaves have been able to rise up against those that have put them down for over 100 years...hmm?"

Before he could continue, Benjamin felt a small hand pull on his pant leg causing him to look down in confusion as he spotted a little blue alien girl standing there looking at him with curious, hopeful eyes, an Asari if his report was correct. The little thing was worse for wear with a few bumps and scratches on her skin, nothing a little bandaid and a good night's rest wouldn't fix. Quickly turning on his translator, Benjamin put his full focus on the girl.

"Can you help me find my mommy and daddy?" the little Asari girl asked, her voice filtering through Giraud's helmet translation devise.

"Um… s-sure," Benjamin nodded, taking a look around the hangar spotting many Asari huddled around being filtered through multiple places and wrote it off as basically impossible since all the Asari look pretty much the same, _those wouldn't be her parents, they would have already stormed over here and chewed me out if they were,_ "oh… um, what do they look like?"

"None of them look like mommy and daddy's a Q-quarian," the little girl said tripping over the last word, her small vocabulary trying to articulate the word.

"Okay… Quarian, Quarian," Benjamin Giraud snapped his fingers as he attempted to remember where the Quarians were hauled off to for treatment of any sickness that might affect them and staring toward the stern of the hangar where sat in several large group's, Quarians. Most of the Quarians that were brought aboard were transferred to decontaminated chambers for treatment due to a large number of them being heavily wounded from fighting against their former masters. If the non wounded ones hadn't put up so much fuss about wanting to stay and wait for potential loved ones they would have joined the wounded, leaving Benjamin without a proper lead on finding this little girl's parents, "over there, probably," Benjamin nodded toward the grouped Quarians and started to lead the little girl there.

"Excuse me, does any of you have an Asari daughter?" Benjamin called out to the group as he and the little Asari girl got closer and something hit him as soon as he said the words, "umm, what's your name by the way?"

"Voli," the little girl replied.

"She says her name's Voli, any of you know where her father might be?" Benjamin asked the assembled Quarians receiving no answers, just blank stares which made him extremely uncomfortable.

"I knew her 'father'," a male looking Quarian no more than 5 foot 6 inches spoke up and stepped out of the crowd. He had a dark red cloth on his brown environmental suit with khaki lace etched into it and lastly an opaque green faceplate.

"Knew?" Benjamin questioned knowing full well what 'knew' meant but he needed to make sure his hunch was accurate, and the translators weren't perfect, confusing certain words like knew and know between curtain dialects especially with new ones.

"My twin, she didn't make it off planet," the Quarian said looking right into Benjamin's eyes, the face place concealing most of his features except for the glowing lime green eyes behind it, definitely not as intimidating as an emotionless unseeable stare down from a fully armored Spartan but it was close, "thank you for bringing Voli to me, I'll make sure she's safe until I can either find her mother or my sister if they're still alive."

"No problem, take care," Benjamin nodded nudging Voli on toward her supposed uncle and turned around to stare back into his camera drone and immediately went beet red as he realized that the drone had been filming the whole thing on live to the entire AUR side of the galaxy, _why do I always forget that those are on?_

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan…**

 **Location:** **F.O.B. Xray, Batarian Capital City** **…**

 **Date: 10 March 2560…**

 **Time: 13:04 military standard time…**

"Bet?" Kei asked her Fireteam including their Spectre as they sat around a small repair crate, in her hands a ten and a queen of spades. The team was in the middle of a friendly card game to pass the time as they rested up from this morning's bloody attempt at breaking further into the Batarian underground fortress. They were assigned four hours of rest time per strike - two strikes have been sent out per day - to either unwind or sleep. Fireteam Domino had chosen to unwind for this one having slept a good four hours before the last attack.

"Fold," Phoros grunted and laid his cards down a four of hearts and a nine of clubs marking second to fold in the round, Leonidas had been the first to fold this round with a two of diamonds and five of hearts.

"I'll raise five," Tela said after a couple of seconds of looking at her cards in an unsure manner as she slid five small rocks that they were using as 'currency' into the middle of the crate, obviously not as knowledgeable with the game as the Spartans around her were.

"Staying," Martin said tossing in five of his rocks as well to stay in the game.

"Staying," Kei shrugged tossing her own five in and after a minute of no one putting in a bet she responded, "alright show them."

"Three of a kind," Martin said showing his cards, two Jacks to match up with the one already on the crate.

"One pair," Tela said sighing in defeat as she placed down a King and a four.

"Royal Flush," Kei said victoriously as she showed her own cards to the group causing all of them to grown and curse at her third win in a row.

"I swear if we weren't wearing our armor I'd attempt to call you out for having cards up your sleeves," Leonidas laughed as Kei gathered up her winnings into her rather large pile of rocks.

"Guess I just have that good of luck then, "Kei winked at Leonidas.

" _All Fireteam leaders report to your closest briefing station immediately,"_ a Sangheili voice commanded over the loudspeakers.

"You heard the four jaw," Leonidas stood up and grabbed his helmet off the ground where he sat it down, "get your gear situated and restock on ammo, I want everyone combat ready in ten minutes."

"Sir," the three members of his Fireteam said in unison, snapping off quick salutes as the moved.

 **XXXXXXXX**

As Leonidas walked into the briefing room he could see nine other Spartan Fireteam leaders standing around the holo-table. Flowing in behind him were six other Fireteam leaders marking out the complete set of 15 fireteams in this sector. Projected on the holo-table was a 3D map of the Batarian stronghold, the thing stretched down into the ground like an upside down pyramid with a total of 14 sectors, attached to the first five were tunnel openings with tram systems which functioned as unhittable and untraceable supply lines from orbit to the other cities just about indefinitely as long as the main base was not assaulted directly. The reason they were able to do this was because of the multiple military factories, depots, indoor farming systems and even a couple of ore mines built into the bottom five sectors of the fortress.

The top four sectors of it were colored in green as secured, friendly territory while the further ten were marked in red as enemy held locations. During the capture of the top four sectors, half of the Spartans, ODSTs, and several Hunter Battalions assigned to the capital take over, split off down the tunnels to block off Batarian reinforcements from retreating back into the main base as well as pinch what troops are fighting them on other fronts between them and the forces they've already been fighting, hoping to end those pockets of resistance and get those troops to assist with the main battle happening below the Batarian capital.

"What's the mission?" Leonidas asked the other assembled Spartan Fireteam leaders in the room, not catching a single Field Commander among them as they all stood in a circle around the holo-table.

" _Spartans good you're all here,"_ Isabel the _Spirit of Fire_ 's smart AI said as she popped up on the holo-table next to the holographic blueprint of the Batarian fortress.

"What's our mission, ma'am?" one of the Spartans in ruby red Warrior Gen-II pattern armor on the far right of the holo-table asked.

" _I'm simply here to warn you of your Spectre guests,"_ Isabel replied crossing her holographic arms of coding of her chest, _"I've been intercepting transmissions that they've been sending out and reporting them directly to the Admiral."_

"So, we've kept what info we've given them to a bare minimum and have been following the procedure to the letter," another Spartan spoke up in confusion.

" _Well you have new orders, straight from the top officers at HIGHCOM,"_ Isabel replied to the Spartan, _"if you perceive your Spectre to be actively interfering with your missions in any way that could get you killed, you are to eliminate them as a threat as soon as possible but you are under direct orders to make their deaths look like they were caused by the Batarians."_

"So we're shooting them in the back now?" the one in Warrior armor sneered, "seems a bit dishonorable if you as me. Why give these orders anyway, it's not like things have gotten that out of control, have they?"

" _All I can say is that tensions have risen between us and the Citadel and depending on how far our relationship with them falls, the fewer Spectres they have at their disposal the better,"_ Isabel stated, her virtual avatar looking over the resigned faces of the Spartans in the room, some of them having made small friendships with their Spectres through the recent conflict. She really didn't need to, because she technically was in every camera in the room, before speaking in a more soothing voice, _"your field commander will be in shortly."_

As Isabel faded from the holo-table an old woman in her late forties to early fifties walked through the door and instinctively all Spartans in the room gave her a salute, conditioned into them during their times within the ODST and Marine Corp. and honed to muscle memory from the blistering training and augmentations the Spartan Corp. forced upon them. She wasn't a fully augmented Spartan like the rest of them but then again very few actual Spartans were in command positions because the Spartan Corp. was still in its infancy with only the highest in the command structure being Spartans themselves and they were mostly of the S-III variety with what remained of the S-II washouts being above them in rank. The woman in the room seemed to be one of those washouts if her cybernetic right leg and hunched posture was anything to go by. Yet even that gave the S-IVs in the room an almost religious amount of respect to the woman, knowing what she was put through and still having the willpower to do her damnedest to serve her people.

"Afternoon, Spartans," the woman said with a steely tone as she tried to return their salutes back to them to the best her body allowed her to do and sat her old bones down into the only chair provided in the room, "at ease."

"What's our mission, ma'am?" Leonidas asked first.

"Right," the woman raised glasses to her eyes and focused on the hologram in front of her, "Groups A, C, and E, you are to assist the 4076th and the 998th UNSC Army Divisions in their push into sub-sector E-10, after that you are to link up with the other UNSC forces making their push at Rally Point Gama right here," the field commander said pointing to a green dot on the middle of the sector, "from here you are to make a beachhead into the next sector and hold until fresh replacements can be deployed to take your place and keep the pressure on them."

"And the rest of us, ma'am?" Leonidas asked as the Spartans assigned to Groups A, C and E departed to inform their Fireteams and get to their insertion points.

"Groups B and D will secure these six fusion generators. We've caught wind of orders telling the Batarians in those areas to destroy them, we can't let that happen with millions of civilians and hundreds of thousands of troops still in this labyrinth," the S-II wash out stated cooly, "if you find civilians or slaves working in those areas, make sure they are out of the line of fire and give them evacuation transponders for the Army grunts to pick up once the assault reaches them."

"How are we going to reach these locations?" Leonidas asked as he looked at the markers on the map, all near the back of the enemy lines on that floor, "they'll be able to detonate those reactors before we would be able to advance into those positions."

"Your teams will be inserting via teleportation beacons on the floor just above your target areas," the S-II Field Commander stated receiving confused looks from the S-IVs in the room, "I won't lie to you, it's highly experimental Forerunner grade teleport systems so you might not come out unscathed if you even come out at all," the field commander said stiffly, giving the assembled S-IVs a steely look, "that is why so few of you are being deployed. If there wasn't the threat of nuclear annihilation these would still be in the remote testing fields of Reach and nowhere near this planet."

"We understand, ma'am," a Spartan next to Leonidas stated with a resigned look in her eyes.

"Good, dismissed," the S-II washout commanded, "I want your operations to be at bare minimum halfway done by 14:00 hours."

"Ma'am," the remaining Spartans in the room saluted and exited with purpose.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"So, what's the mission this time, more assisting the Army regulars as they throw themselves against these four-eyed cockroaches?" Martin asked as Leonidas marched into the Spartan/Spectre staging area, followed by the other five Fireteam leaders as he set an M739 SAW to his back mag-plate.

"What is this 'cockroach'?" Tela asked from nearby as she did the final checks on her gear.

"Disgusting bug from the human homeworld about the size of my thumb and is the only thing that can possibly survive a minor nuclear detonation better than most animals on the planet," Kei shrugged as she rummaged through her medical gear, triple checking that everything was in it and in their proper places.

"Speaking of nuclear detonation, "Leonidas sighed as he grabbed a MA5D off one of the gun racks and set it on his backplate with the necessary ammo, his energy sword trophy from nearby and attached it to the small of his back, and lastly two M7 SMGs and set them on his thigh plates with the ammo needed for them, "we're targeting one of their nuclear generators, turns out that they are planning to blow the entire complex up if we're able to break their front lines, turning this entire city into a massive crater."

"If we can't have it no one can," Phoros grunted from near the door, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Hit the nail right on the head," Leonidas answered as he faced his squad, grabbing his helmet and sealing it in place.

"Wait, how will we reach those areas without them going off first?" Martin said quizzically, "I don't know about you but I left my shovel in my other custom made suit of armor."

"Teleportation," Leonidas stated, "don't be surprised if we end up in a wall and our Spectre will be with the assault group until she reaches us."

"Why can't I go with you?" Tela asked suspiciously as she crossed her arms in annoyance.

"Because you would be ripped to shreds just trying," Leonidas sighed, "we have a better survival rate due to these," Leonidas tapped his armored chest for clarification, "and it's still not completely 100% full proof."

"So you're telling me that a highly advanced civilization that can cut holes into a fourth dimension for FTL that can get you from one end of the galaxy to the other in little over a half a year hasn't worked out the kinks in a working teleportation system?" Tela asked almost shocked about what she was hearing.

"Truth be told, we only discovered teleportation technology within the past decade and this is literally the first test drive of the damn things," Martin countered with a defensive tone in his voice, "it's not like you've done any better little miss lives for a thousand years. I bet if we had life spans like yours we'd have conquered the entire galaxy by the time of the Roman empire."

"Stow it," Leonidas shot Martin a cold look that the man could feel through his Fireteam leader's faceplate, "we've got a job to do, let's get it done."

"Sir, yes sir," Martin sighed as he grabbed his helmet and put it on.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"Fireteam Domino reporting for insertion," Leonidas said as he walked into the ten foot by ten-foot room a few dozen meters above their target position.

The place used to be a barracks if some of the melted metal bed frames were anything to go by. In the room was a rather large disk setup directly in the middle with three poles sticking out of it, if you were to put lines from them towards the middle they'd sit on the outside corner of every third. Leading out from the disk were three bundles of cables leading to a mobile control panel and two portable plasma reactors, both the reactors and the control panel were set behind energy barriers making this already bleak sounding mission that much more of bleaker. Surrounding the control panel were seven people in the uniforms for navy technicians and around the disk were 12 armed soldiers wearing the uniforms of those that belonged to the UNSC army corps of engineers and five more navy technicians overseeing them.

"Okay, um, stand over there on that disk, we're almost done with the last of the calibrations and equations necessary for your travel," one of the closer navy technicians said in an awkward sounding Slavic tone as he flipped through the 5 inches thick manual in his hands, most of it was probably just blueprints to put it together but it was still ungodly thick for what the machine was supposed to do. Leonidas turned to look back at his team with an over the shoulder glance before shrugging and advancing onto the machine with one uneasy step like he was setting foot on a landmine before standing fully on it. Phoros was the next to step on, followed by Martin and lastly Kei.

"So what now?" Martin asked over personal squad comms as he shifted awkwardly on the 'pedestal'.

"Flash mob?" Kei shrugged as she stared at the engineers trying her damnedest to _will_ them to go faster, only succeeding in making the engineers more nervous.

"It would pass the time," Leonidas agreed half-heartedly, receiving a disappointed shake of the head from Phoros.

"Okay everything's set and ready to go," the technician that spoke with them earlier confirmed as he stood before them.

"How badly will this hurt?" Martin asked.

"Not at all, I promise," the technician lied, knowing full well this will be the first test run of the teleportation grid.

"If I die, I'll haunt your ass," Phoros growled as he tensed up ready for a fight, shotgun ready in his hands.

"Then let's hope that doesn't happen," the technician chuckled nervously as he backed up behind the energy shield every other technician was hiding behind and the engineers had the foresight to book it out of the room as soon as their work was done in hopes that they would be out of the range of the theoretical explosion.

"Three… two… one…" the technicians all said at the same time as one closest to the corner pushed an unseen button and the poles sprouting from the pedestal started spinning counter-clockwise, slowly at first building up a golden glow before gradually getting faster and faster, to the point that Fireteam Domino's augmented sight couldn't focus on one individual pole for any amount of time.

Fireteam Domino' vision soon went white and they felt a flash of pain so strong it felt like every molecule was shredded from their beings one by one. As they came to, they found themselves in a new place with walkways above them, a massive hunk of technology bleeding blue light right in front of them and a couple of very startled Quarians chained to their posts looking up at their forms. Fireteam Domino's shield alarms were going off and everything was sore as if they went through augmentations all over again.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan…**

 **Location:** **Batarian Underground Fortress, Sector E15** **…**

 **Date: 10 March 2560…**

 **Time: 13:10 military standard time…**

"Everyone good?" Leonidas asked groggily as he took in more of his surroundings.

"OOOOWWWW," Martin growled as he looked himself over and recoiled in shock, "and what the fuck is with all this black stuff?"

"Black stuff?" Leonidas looked at himself, not spotting anything different before turning to Martin in confusion to see him covered in splotches of black all over his armor, some of the blue colorations poked out in some areas but it was primarily coated in a black film.

"Just me... that's not fair!" Martin complained as he looked at his squad mates before receiving a pistol shot to the left side of his head, pinging off the titanium shell.

"Cover, now!" Leonidas ordered as he grabbed his MA5D off his back and slid behind a pillar to his right, followed by Kei right next to him. Martin and Phoros took the one on the other side due to both pillars only being able to hold two people behind it for cover. Martin popped out of his cover to fill the bastard that shot him in the head, quickly killing him before ducking back so he didn't take any more shots. Leonidas looked toward his hud to find that his shields hadn't recharged yet and took a look at the crystalline shield emitters that formed his shields, finding them in shattered pieces.

"Shields have overloaded, that means all our systems are down," Kei yelled over the gunfire around her, "and worse our armor attachments won't work either.

"Son of a bitch, my AI's completely fried," Martin growled as he pulled out the smoking remains of his AI's data core and popped out, using the SAW in his hand to do his best at mowing down a squad of Batarian regulars that took up positions above them on the catwalks. It didn't do much but force them away from the edge of the thing but it allowed Phoros to peek out from his post and throw a plasma grenade onto the underside of the Batarian position, killing all on the catwalk as it exploded in a shower of molten steel and body parts. Thank god that the grenades didn't overload on them too.

"Damn it," Leonidas aimed his rifle in the direction of the two Quarians who flinch away with fear and shot their restrains to pieces, freeing them and allowing them to crawl towards Leonidas' and Kei's cover spots to stay clear of the incoming Batarian fire, "Wolf, Reaper take the ones on the left, me and Edge will take the ones on the right. Keep the fire away from the slaves."

"Got it," Martin yelled out as he popped white smoke, broke cover and started doing mowing down any Batarians in his way of the next covered area, while Phoros just nodded and followed in suit.

"Ready?" Leonidas turned toward Kei.

"Ready," Kei nodded throwing white smoke to mask their movement and shuffling forward, her SMG firing to suppress as she did so. As the smoke cleared both pairs were already on the other sides of the reactor room, giving them a great line of sight against the slightly understaffed platoon-sized element of Batarian soldiers. Said soldiers opened fire as soon as they could properly see their enemy with overlapping firing points coordinated from the units in the catwalks and those on the ground floor.

"Reaper, get to the catwalks we need to split their fire," Leonidas ordered into his comms, hoping that the thing hadn't sorted out with the rest of his subsystems but it seemed it had due to the lack of response from his second," Edge do you think you could cover me for a couple of minutes?"

"What are you planning?" Kei asked as she peeked out from her covered location and sent a steady stream of hot led at the Batarians in her way.

"Drawing fire from the bastards up top," Leonidas stated and sent a blind burst passed his cover into the Batarian position on the ground.

"That's fucking insane," Kei pointed out as she ducked back behind her cover to escape the hail of Batarian fire coming her way.

"Got any better plans?" Leonidas barked as a stray Batarian slug tore through the ammo counter on his MA5D, showering sparks and shrapnel everywhere.

"Not really," Kei shook her head and switched her empty magazine for a fresh one and slammed it into her SMG.

On the other side, Martin and Phoros were doing well, taking out a couple more Batarian positions with combinations of Martin's SAW pinning them, Phoros closing to engage in CQC if the were close enough and launching a grenade if the enemy position wasn't also occupied with cowering slave labor. They had taken some minor wounds, like a shallow stab from a close combat blade when Phoros jumped into a slightly too big a group or the clean bullet hits along with the areas where the titanium plate didn't cover but for the most part, they were still combat effective. The only complains they would have was that their shields weren't operational.

"Ey, Reaper over there," Martin called out as he rolled into cover next to Phoros and pointed to their squad leader exiting cover, both SMGs in his hands as he shot and ran toward a staircase leading upward to the catwalks, "think he needs help?"

"Yeah," Phoros nodded as he looked up at the catwalk, "you volunteered, go."

"Understood," Martin lifted up his SAW and sprinted as fast as he could toward the staircase on their end of the battlefield, taking a couple of direct hits to the side as he did so. As he reached the top of the stairs he saw Leonidas just climb up as well.

"Same idea?" Leonidas panted for breath, the weight of the armor getting to him slightly.

"Followed you up," Martin said as he looked across the catwalk and saw the soldiers that were firing down on the fireteam starting to make their way toward the two Spartan's new position.

"After you," Leonidas said as he looked at his SMGs and back to the oncoming force.

"Using me as the meat shield?" Martin asked with humor in his voice as he looked toward the Batarians, "I thought we got over that during Spartan training."

"Ha, ha," Leonidas mock laughed, "just open fire, jackass."

"Yes sir," both Spartans lifted their weapons in unison and sprayed the rushing Batarians down. Martin sprayed his weapon from left to right and Leonidas did the same but each weapon hand sprayed in an opposite direction until they were out of ammo in their chosen weapons and moved forward to engage in CQC.

Leonidas swiftly exchanged his SMGs with his energy sword and ignited it, cutting three Batarians across the necks on a 45 degree upward swing. Martin charged into an assembled group with a shoulder check, sending five caring over the rails and crushing two under an armored boot. Leonidas, in turn, grabbed the Omni-tool bladed hand of another Batarian and used his sword to impale the alien through the chest. He then used the dead Baratian's body as a shield while he body checked the dead one's friend, the exposed end of the energy sword stabbing through him as well. As Martin slowed down to a halt, two Batarians charged at the same time with Omni-blades at the ready. The Spartan stowed his SAW onto his back and kicked out the knee of the Batarian on his left, as he did so, Martin threw a left hook into the helmeted head belonging to Batarian on his right. This punch putting a heavy dent in it and in turn sent his body falling over the edge, knocked out or most likely dead before he hit the ground below. The remaining Batarian on his left staggered back onto his one good leg and lunged for Martin but was easily sidestepped and sent over the edge resounding in a loud thud.

"Hey watch where you're throwing those things you could poke somebodies eye out!" Kei yelled from below followed by two magnum blasts, "and make sure they're dead first."

"No my fault, he jumped!" Martin defended as he took a split second to look down and found that Kei and Phoros had changed sides of the battlefield with each other the other two were in CQC.

"Sure he did," Kei said sarcastically as she aimed up toward Martin's and Leonidas' positions and shot a Batarian trying to flank around them.

Martin focused back on the fight in front of him as he jabbed at the chest of Batarian leveling a shotgun at him, ripped it out of his hand and shot a hole in the Batarian's chest with his own weapon. As Martin did this, Leonidas had hacked away five more Batarians with sweeping slashes and stabs. He then proceeded to hack off the forearm of an overextended Omni-bladed punch and before the Batarian had a chance to scream Leonidas silenced him with a decapitation strike. The rest in front of Martin and Leonidas scrambled over each other to escape out of the door on the other side of room and catwalk. When the Batarians did this both Spartans grabbed their weapons off their backs and mowed down the Batarians in retreat, killing several more before the door they ran through closed and sealed itself off.

"Okay all that's left is the ones on the ground floor," Martin sighed, knowing that this part of the mission was almost done.

"Agreed," Leonidas stretched his neck and aimed at the enemies down on the ground floor, "fire at will."

"Firing," Martin replied as he started firing upon the Batarian positions that held no slave labor and let Leonidas handle the ones that did since his MA5D was a bit more precise.

 **XXXXXXXX**

"Asari, get over here!" a Sangheili soldier yelled to her from the corner of a small passageway, just enough for four human-sized people to walk breast to breast down it.

Tela Vasir had been accompanying this squad of UNSC soldiers over the past hour, fighting past multiple fortified gun emplacements and kill boxes, this was just another in the long line of kill boxes she'd had to help clear in the past three hours. She'd been working with at least ten other squads before coming upon this one since they'd died almost too fast to remember faces. The only reason this squad had been surviving for so long was that they were entirely Sangheili.

"What is it?" Tela asked as she approached Sangheili that called her over and peeked out into the new corridor and ducked back immediately to avoid the heavy machine gun fire pouring through, "okay, I get it."

Tela Vasir summoned a biotic one-way barrier wall to allow the UNSC soldiers to shoot out but kept the enemy fire at bay and stepped out into the hallway. As soon as she stepped out the fire from the Batarian fortified position hit the barrier like a car hitting a wall, staggering Tela to the point where she fell onto her knees in exhaustion but kept the barrier up with what remained of her willpower. It wasn't long before the Sangheili followed in behind her and used explosives to lay waste to the Batarian heavy gun and gun down the rest.

"Are you okay, Asari?" the squad's sergeant asked as he looked down at her.

"As good as I'm going to get," Tela grunted as she pushed herself up to her feet and dropped the barrier, "that's the last time I'm going to be able to do that."

As Tela looked over the slagged Batarian position she only counted ten among the dead, compared to the barricade with 30 that the last one had. The only thing odd about the body layout here was the fact that two of the bodies looked like they were trying to get through the door on the end of the hall and had wounds like they were gunned down with UNSC kinetic weapons and not the plasma tech that the Sangheili next to her were carrying. Either they had whittled the Batarians down that much or they had to divert forces elsewhere and if she had to hazard a guess that they were most likely focused elsewhere. The Batarian forces usually pushed more manpower into dealing with sectors that contained Spartan activity so it wasn't that much of a surprise.

"Which sector area are we in?" Tela asked as she studied the bodies.

"We're close to one of the main reactor complexes," the Sangheili next to her replied.

"Thank you," Tela nodded to the large reptilian soldier as she stepped to the door and palmed the bulkhead door control. It opened to the sight of a large room about the size of a dreadnought mass effect core room with Batarian bodies piled in three large groups on one side, a small huddled mass of slaves sitting quietly in a far corner and the four battered Spartans of Fireteam Domino, aiming their weapons at her from a barricade ten feet from the door on a catwalk that the door led out to. They were all covered in pockmarks from bullets contacting their armor and patches where Biophome had been applied in the gaps between armored plate.

"There you are, you missed all the fun," Kei sighed in relief as she lowered her weapon, "does this mean that our job is done yet because we need major repairs to our armor and medical treatment these wounds won't stay closed for long, a fucking shower and we need to break some eggheads."

"You're not the only one," Tela sighed as she looked toward the Sangheili standing stiffly behind her, "I think I made some friends."

"Ah, good," Leonidas walked up to the Sangheili sergeant, "hold this area and make sure the civilians are sent up when you can, we're going to go limp back to base."

"Affirmative," the Sangheili nodded and he and the rest of his squad filed into the reactor room allowing the Spartans to pass.

As the Spartans and Tela Vasir exited the underground fortress of what remained of the Batarian Hegemony, Tela noticed several dead Spectre's she'd known from reputation being hauled off on gurneys with what she could tell was Batarian weapons fire but all the shots looked too neat for even Batarian Spec. Ops… too precise… too _Spartan_.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **I hoped you all enjoyed that little bit of hell I put together for Domino, my new longest chapter to date with 7,000+ words, my hands hurt. I'm going to go get myself some Domino's pizza feel like I deserve it, the rest of you have fun with the rest of your day or night depending when you read this or if you are reading this at 2:00 a.m. listen to the book Go The Fuck to Sleep by Samuel Jackson and heed his words, god knows I need to.**


	22. Chapter 22: First Contact War Ends

**Hello and welcome everyone to the end of** **Arc 1: The First Contact War** **. You know just for an interesting side note, I've actually had this chapter written since the start of this story because I wanted an ending that I'd have to plan up to. Although it has gone through** _ **many**_ **alterations since the beginning to account for all the OCs that now fill it. I hope you all enjoyed this arc and I hope you keep enjoying the things to come.**

 **By the way, the poll results are in and the Master Chief side story I have planned will be incorporated into this one with 64% of the vote in favor of doing so.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan…**

 **Location: Aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire**_ **…**

 **Date: 11 March 2560…**

 **Time: 15:05 military standard time…**

" _Admiral Cutter, Admiral N'thavo is waiting for you in the war room,"_ Isabel announced from her pedestal.

"Thank you," Cutter nodded, holding the rage he felt at bay, "tell him I will join him shortly. Oh, and tell Red Team to get there with restraints, we might need them."

" _By your word Admiral,"_ Isabel nodded her virtual head.

It didn't take Cutter long to reach the war room on his ship, by the time he reached it he'd already found all three remaining S-IIs standing outside the door to the chamber. Instead of the usual sage green Mjolnir that they were very well known for wearing everywhere, they instead wore the simple dark grey and red fatigues of the Spartan Corp. on their lean, tall frames. The Spartans faces were still rather young but Douglas and Jerome were finally showing the slight amount of stubble one would expect on a young adult who hasn't shaved for the past day. Alice, on the other hand, had filled out into a much more feminine shape than the muscle covered shape he'd first saw her in, looking just like her Spartan brothers. She had adopted wavy shoulder length blonde hair pulled back in a low ponytail, obviously taking hairstyle advice from the other female soldiers around her. Looking at them now gave him a small trickle of fatherly pride which he let slightly fill his features before remembering why he was there in the first place.

"Admiral," Jerome nodded his head in respect toward Cutter.

"You have those restraints I asked for?" Cutter asked as he stood in front of the Spartan commanding officer.

"Affirmative," Jerome nodded, "do you want us to subdue him?"

"Not yet, I want to hear his explanation first," Cutter clarified, "however, if he attacks use it."

"Understood," Jerome nodded to Alice and Douglas for them to enter.

N'thavo looked bored, as he looked through the small shelf of old human combat tactics books. As the Spartans and Admiral Cutter stepped into the room, he slowly turned toward them with a slightly confused look on his face. At least Cutter hoped it was one of confusion and not one of a cornered animal.

"You wanted to talk Fleetmaster?" N'thavo asked in very accented English.

"I heard that you _glassed_ a planet during my campaign," Cutter stated with a steely tone in his voice, "care to explain your actions?"

"Landing forces to assault a nuclear weapons cash was a suicidal plan so I burned it to the ground so I wouldn't waste resources that could have been spent elsewhere," N'thavo growled in defense, "who do you think gave you the reinforcements that you needed to continue your fruitless assault on that damn Batarian bunker?"

"That was not your call to make," Cutter shot back in an even tone, "we have orders to save every slave in this damn system and you killed several hundred thousand."

" _Admiral Cutter Captain Anders requests your presence,"_ Isabela interrupted the conversation, _"she says it's urgent to ending the war."_

"Send me the address to where she is and tell her I'll be there after a take a little walk," Cutter focused back on N'thavo, "Commander Jerome, escort Admiral N'thavo to the brig to await court-martial." Instead of making a fight out of it, N'thavo willingly allowed the three S-IIs to shackle him and escort him out, keeping his head held high, as if he had done no wrong.

 **XXXXXXXX**

Ellen Anders watched the former Batarian Citadel ambassador through the one-way mirror of the interrogation cell that he'd been stuck in for the past two hours. She had got the paperwork pushed through to have the man brought here roughly a day ago and had let him stew in there as a little bit of a power move for a couple of hours but it was mainly to wait for Admiral Cutter to finally get here. The man had told her that he was going to walk there so he could keep in shape and see more of his crew that he wouldn't have seen if he took the tram system every time he needed to do something outside of the bridge area.

"How long have you kept the man waiting?" Cutter asked as he walked up beside Ellen, startling her a little bit.

"Long enough I think," Ellen smirked ruefully, "did you enjoy your walk?"

"I did," Cutter nodded, "I also saw the documents you sent me, care to explain."

"Leverage to end this war a more quickly," Ellen stated looked at Admiral Cutter's resigned expression.

"Did you have to kill all of them?" Cutter asked lifting up his datapad holding the information for this 'talk' with the Batarian ambassador.

"He's the only one that we know of that's moderate in his beliefs of the Batarian people, that's why he was sent to the Citadel in the first place," Ellen explained, "so he can't shape politics on the home front."

"He led an open rebellion on the Citadel," Cutter pointed out.

"We would have done the same in his shoes," Ellen said with a shrug, "hell we have done the same thing, that's one the reasons so many worlds fell to the insurrectionists."

"True," Cutter sighed as he fixed his gaze back to the Batarian ambassador, "so I'm just going to go talk to him?"

"Well brute force doesn't work in every situation," Ellen said, "do what you do best and this should be over in no time."

"Wish me luck," Cutter sighed as he left the observation room and entered the Batarian's cell. The alien looked angry, obviously not liking that he'd been cooped up in a stale room like this for so long. His four eyes shifted in suspicion as Cutter walked toward the table he was chained to and took a seat just the opposite side of the Batarian.

"What do you want _human_ ," the Batarian asked, spitting the word out with venom.

"I am Admiral Cutter, the one in charge of this whole campaign," Cutter announced, "and you are?"

"Drorok Ghes'cerr," the Batarian replied.

"I'm here to negotiate the surrender of the Batarian Hegemony," Cutter said bluntly, "and you are currently the only Batarian political leader in your entire government."

"Impossible there are fail-safes to prevent that," Drorok denied what he was hearing.

"Here is your proof," Cutter said laying the datapad in his hands down in front of Drorok. On it was the pictures of the bodies of all his political rivals and friends, all cut down with swift deaths except for one that had looked like he'd been tortured before being left to bleed out. If the alien could have turned pale he most likely would have.

"How do I know your not off me once the war is over?" Drorok growled, "I've killed many of your soldiers myself as well as many a Citadel citizen."

"You will be forced to stand trial for the war crimes that you've committed but you will be turned over to the Council for that mess," Cutter clarified, "but I believe that this war has gone on long enough, so for both our sakes and for your people, capitulate, bring an end to this bloodshed. You might have an easier time keeping your head if you do."

"Fine," Drorok hung his head in defeat.

"Good, now all we need you to do is broadcast it to your people," Cutter said nodding to the one-way mirror and a marine with a recording device came in through the only way in and out of the room.

"How am I to do that?" Drorok questioned as he pushed the disturbing images away from him.

"We've hacked your entire communications array throughout the entire system," Cutter shrugged nonchalantly like hacking it wasn't such a big deal.

 _The Batarian Hegemony spent hundreds of millions of credits for the best anti-hacking software money could buy and even used Quarians to outfit it even further,_ the Batarian ambassador gritted his teeth not wanting to lose but knew of no way that he could win even if he tried and oh boy had he tried, "of course," Drorok the Batarian Ambassador turned leader of a fractured and beaten people hung his head.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan…**

 **Location:** **Batarian Underground Fortress, Sector E19** **…**

 **Date: 3/10/2157…**

 **Time: 13:10 military standard time…**

"HOLD THE LINE!" General Osank Kosboth yelled at the top of his lungs as he scrambled to keep his men in formation to hold off the AUR's push as he fired off a full magazine of rifle rounds into the mass of AUR soldiers behind a Spartan forged energy wall, "hold gods damn you!"

His formation of troops had been able to kill off a couple of the Spartans using anti-vehicle weapons at extremely close range before they had time to put their shields up and pushed back their offensive for the briefest moment to let his troops rest. Said rest didn't last long as the monsters came back out in force almost immediately afterward, basically only giving them enough time to load in a new shell into the one effective weapon they had on hand for killing these behemoths of war. For this assault however they had put up their towering energy shield walls to negate the effectiveness of the one good weapon they had.

"Sir we need to fall back!" one of his lieutenants demanded as the weapon emplacement melted from a bolt of green plasma.

"We have nowhere else to go that won't put all of our families in danger of being taken by these things," General Kosboth screamed at the top of his lungs as a plasma grenade detonated on the lieutenant he was screaming at and covered the General's face in third degree burns, blood, and gore, as well as slightly melt the outer layer of his armor. The explosion shockwave hurled him into the wall with a teeth-chattering thud.

" _To all Hegemony, soldiers left,"_ a voice bussed from his Omni-tool as well as the all the others around him, even coming from the intercom systems of the base itself.

 _What is going on?_ General Kosboth thought as the fighting stopped around him.

" _I-I am Ambassador Drorok Ghes'cerr and the only one left in the Hegemony Hierarchy,"_ the voice continued with a sour tone deep within.

"No, no you are not I'm still here!" Kosboth growled as he stood up on shaky legs, weapon held loosely in his hands.

" _By executive order 5598-443-99, I surrender to the AUR and accept their terms of war,"_ Drorok stated pausing to let the situation sink in for those listening for a moment before continuing, _"throw down your armaments and surrender, you will not be harmed."_

"Don't listen to him!" Kosboth panted as he limped over to stand in the middle of his soldiers, "he is a traitor for speaking such things, we are Batarians, we will fight!"

"No," one of the soldiers in the crowd growled, "I have seen all my friends die for this lost cause, I will not suffer the same fate."

"Then you are a traitor, too," Kosboth seethed as he stared at the soldier in question, "someone, shoot this man!"

None of his men moved to his order as they have done throughout this entire war so far. He only received traitorous stares from them and it made him nervous. "Sir, no sir," another spoke, dropping his weapon and started walking with arms raised in surrender toward the AUR lines followed quickly by the rest.

"TRAITORS!" Kosboth yelled, his burned skin cracking and spilling blood from the cracks as he raised his weapon to cut down the soldiers giving themselves up. Before he could pull the trigger and shoot the first dissenter, a Spartan pushed the target out of the way and fired off one clean shot from his weapon right through one of Kosboth's eyes and out the back of his skull, killing the Batarian instantly.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan…**

 **Location:** **F.O.B. Xray, Batarian Capital City** **…**

 **Date: 11 March 2560…**

 **Time: 20:56 military standard time…**

"Well we are approved for shore leave," Leonidas said as he half walked, half limped into Fireteam Domino's shared living space in the medical wing.

It turned out that the entire team had been more wounded then they had initially thought. On top of the bullet and blade wounds that had been inflicted onto the Spartans, they had all torn tendons trying to move in their armor without the power systems to alleviate the weight. It was mirror shit overall in their line of work but it was still enough to set them back from the front line for the next week. Not to mention that they'd gotten off pretty lucky compared to the other teams that had made that suicidal jump, most Fireteams getting 50% to 75% casualty ratings.

"Where are we allowed to go this time?" Martin asked because how baddy Spartans are needed in the field they routinely were only allowed to go certain places. Most of these places containing an already high number of active AUR military forces, like capital planets or secured Forerunner installations.

"The normal lists, the homeworlds of the various empires, the Ark, and Onyx," Leonidas said plopping down on his bed and scrolling through the datapad, "have you ordered your replacement dumb AI yet?"

"Yeah, it'll take six months for the thing to be produced and sent to me," Martin answered.

"I'd like to go see the Ark," Kei piped up from her bed.

"Really? We've already been there," Martin cocked an eyebrow, "not all that impressive."

"Well, that was when it was under attack, we've never seen it during peacetime and I'm curious," Kei stretched as she explained her reasoning for wanting to go.

"True," Martin shrugged.

"I like the idea," Leonidas commented, "what do you Phoros?" The quiet man just shrugged in an okay gesture.

"Then we're going to the Ark then," Leonidas confirmed as he tapped the datapad and put it away.

 **XXXXXXXX**

Tela Vasir sat cross-legged on her bunk in the now half empty barracks that the Citadel Council task force had been given as accommodations ever since landfall. Not many of the Spectres and C-sec operatives had been killed today but the ones that had been killed seemed too clean and too precise. After taking a look at the bodies, she'd secluded herself up in the Barracks, finding being around the Spartans of team Domino to be very unnerving and subconsciously wanting to draw her weapon on them. She'll have to inform the Council of these developments.

"You've seen the bodies, too?" a Turian Spectre asked from the bunk on her left.

"Yes," Tela answered, gripping her weapon tighter in her hands, "I don't like this."

"You're not the only one," the Turian Spectre next to her sighed, "the humans are saying that the war is over, that the Batarians have thrown down their arms and are being rounded up in droves."

"You believe it?" Tela asked looking toward the Turian's hard set face.

"No, not one bit," the Turian shook his head in anger, "it's only evolved into a different kind of conflict and they will turn their eyes to the Citadel itself next."

"What do you mean by that?" Tela raised an eyebrow at her fellow Spectre.

"Look at it this way," the Turian shifted on his bunk to look at her more clearly, "they've just proven themselves in open conflict by destroying the Batarian Hegemony in the span of a couple of months. Now we will enter the shadow war."

"Shadow war?" Tela questioned still highly skeptical as she glanced around at the other Spectres in the room, they were all quiet most likely listening to their conversation.

"Both sides will threaten each other with larger and larger weapons but the only combat engagements that will happen will be between both sides is with the use of Special Forces and Black Ops. units, like us."

"And they have already drawn first blood in that regard."

"Exactly, keep your guard up and that weapon close."

"I know we must face them at some point but we are not outfitted to deal with these Spartans, by the Goddess the Batarians had to use antivehicle cannons to even kill a couple and we don't pack anywhere near enough firepower to make fighting them a viable option."

"We need to wait, I was talking to a few other Spectres and C-sec officers here and we're planning to stay here when the AUR pack to leave this rock."

"Then how will we get back to Citadel Space?"

"From what I've heard the AUR leaves the planets they hit with enough resources to get back on their feet, that means spaceports and things like that."

"And if they kill us all before that happens?"

"They won't."

"How would you know?!"

"Because they'd invite open war from the Citadel Council if they did and the only way to win a war against an organization like ours is by fight through the shadows. The Humans have a saying, 'an empire toppled by its enemies can rise again, but one which crumbles from within is dead forever', at least I think that's how it goes."

"I see," Tela went quiet as a shiver ran down her spine.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Kite's Nest, Harsa System, Khar'shan…**

 **Location: Aboard the U.N.S.C.** _ **Spirit of Fire**_ **…**

 **Date: 12 March 2560…**

 **Time: 08:00 military standard time…**

"Captain Drake Florian," Ellen Anders greeted as the field operative walked into her office.

"Ma'am," Captain Florian saluted as the door closed behind him and sat down when Ellen returned it, "any particular reason I was summoned?"

"It's about your shore leave," Ellen sighed handing him the packet marked denied on it.

"Why is this?"

"We still have need of you. You are one of our best subterfuge operatives and we need you for one last mission before you can go."

"What's the mission?"

"Your being sent out with a Prowler to disrupt criminal activity throughout the traverse so we can make it safe for our citizenry to colonies these worlds. We've boasted that we have control of that region and top brass wants to make that a reality, especially since many of our worlds are still glass covered rocks and we are still dealing with refugees."

"I'm guessing I'm not the only one making this mission then? That is a lot of galaxy for one man to cover."

"We're deploying 69% of our HEADHUNTERS to go on this mission as well," Ellen clarified, handing Drake another folder for him to look at. It looked to be the standard old subversion and torch op. lasting about a month or so if things went well but could very easily go south at any moment, "you may grab a couple of Fireteams but keep the numbers small."

"I think I know the team I can use," Drake said remembering the Fireteam he'd worked with a couple of days prior, "when do we ship out?"

"Five days, that should be enough for you to catch a little rest before you go on this mission," Ellen stated.

"Thank you, ma'am, I'll make sure things run smoothly" Drake stood saluted once more and left to plan for his next mission.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **I hope you all enjoyed the ending to the first arc. I struggled to get things down to how I like it and to set up future events for later down the road. Now to get to work on Master Chief's story. All of you have a great day and I'll be back soon enough.**


	23. Chapter 23: A Veteran's Welcome Home

**Welcome back to Element Halo and most importantly John 117s arc of the story, I hope you enjoy what I put together here. I'm thinking that this is going to last at most 20 chapters but it may vary. By the way, things are going to start slowing down now and characters will be kept to a bare minimum. Just a quick warning, there will be some level of romance in this but I most likely will botch it because it may come as a shocker but I've never had a romantic encounter let alone a girlfriend in my life so I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. Although it might be good since I'm writing this from the Master Chief's view and we all know he has had no such encounters before either. All I'm saying is don't bite my head off if things get** **cringy in the chapters to come.**

 **To tell a hero's journey correctly you need to have a beginning, a foundation for why they came to be what they are, for our Spartan everything started when he was abducted in the Book: The Fall of Reach. You need to have the middle, the crucible that forged them into the hero they were needed to be, for our Spartan: the Halo games 1, 2, & 3 with their interwoven books that tell the story in between each one. Lastly, you need the ending, something that puts the hero through one last fight, not for those around them or their nation but for themselves or to take them off the stage of gods amongst men and reveal the true human soul that is covered in the armor of the hero. This will be that story… hopefully?... maybe?... I don't know, this might be what kills the story completely... sorry in advance.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Sol System, Orbit of Earth…**

 **Location: Aboard the** _ **Mantle's Approach**_ **…**

 **Date: 25 July 2557…**

 **Time: 20:40 military standard time…**

The Master Chief watched as the Didact fell to his doom, every muscle in his body screaming at the pressure he was forcing on them. The combat damage he'd sustained to his armor during the waning days of the Human vs Covenant War, coupled with the nonstop fighting he'd been put through since he had woken up in orbit of Requiem and the Didact's damn near-telepathic powers crushing his suit to him like a tomato can, forced the battle-worn armor to short circuit and reboot itself. This, in turn, forced John to push with all his remaining might toward the nuclear bomb with his armor laying all its weight on him causing John to fall stumble to his knees several times before he gave in and crawled the rest of the way to the nuke.

During his perceived last moments, the names and faces of everyone he'd ever known from his youth before being taken to become what he was now to every Spartan, Marine, and ODST he'd fought side by side with since being augmented. Eventually, John came back to one face, in particular, Parisa. Her every detail from Beria Plaza filled his mind and made John hesitate for the slightest moment and look up at the blue marble of a planet above him currently being composed as he set the bomb. John knew that he wasn't going to make it out of this, but found solace in the memory of his long lost childhood friend, or were they more than friends? John for the life of him couldn't remember.

 _I guess my so-called 'luck' has finally run out,_ John thought bitterly as he took one more deep breath, looked back down at the nuclear payload in his hands and detonated it with a white flash, _my only regret is that I couldn't keep my last promise._

The Master Chief spent a few minutes waiting for the embrace of death until he heard the winding signal of his shields recharging and the pressure on his back disappear. In surprise, John stood up to find himself in a massive cube of blue-colored hard light. He didn't feel dead, so that was a plus but it still took a while to process. Having nothing better to do, John took in his surroundings trying to find a way out, if there ever was one.

"Cortana?" Master Chief singled his comms unit, slight desperation in his tone, "Cortana, do you read?" waiting for a couple of seconds John keyed his comms one more time but this time making it an order, "Cortana, come in."

At these words, an even brighter blue light simmered behind him causing him to turn and look toward the potential threat. Standing there was Cortana, a sad smile covering her holographic equation fill features as she walked slowly toward him. She was much larger now, the standard height for an earth-born female.

"How…?" John asked perplexed after seeing her AI chip be disintegrated by one of the Promethean weapons and sacrificing the last copies of herself so he could get the final hit in to kill the Didact.

"Oh, I'm the strangest thing you've seen all day?" Cortana chuckled the way she usually did during missions, like it was just another day in her life, putting a fraction of a smile on her large green ally.

"But if we're here?" John took a look at himself, not entirely believing what he was seeing.

"It worked," Cortana confirmed, her voice slightly shaking, "you did it, just like you always do."

John looked around at the walls around him trying to find the exit once again before asking, "Then how do we get out of here," and turning back to his now visibly frowning AI ally, possibly the only friend he had left in his long-tortured life.

"I'm not coming with you this time," Cortana stated after a couple of realtime seconds which concerned John.

"What?" John asked hoping against everything that she was just joking, tears threatening to spill from his eyes, his Spartan conditioning the only thing keeping the floodgates closed.

"Most of me is down there," Cortana said looking down past the ground and toward the Forerunner ship, her expression turning to that of a person crying but there were no tears to show, "I only held enough back to get you off the ship."

"No, that's not..." John said, stubbornly trying to wrack his mind and find any possibility of saving his last friend, "we go _together_."

"It's already done," Cortana replied, her voice cracking slightly as she did so.

"I am _not_ leaving you here," John said in the most commanding voice he could muster.

"John," Cortana sighed, placing her holographic blue hand tenderly onto the Spartan's chest plate, trying to calm the man down, "I've waited so long to do that."

"It was my job to take care of you," John stated, finding it impossible to look her in the eye at that moment, feeling like he'd failed to protect anything close to him, not his Spartans, not Johnson, not anybody.

"We were supposed to take care of each other," Cortana retorted, looking into John's faceplate, "and we did."

"Cortana… please…" John begged, tears coming full force from his eyes now as Cortana started backing away from him, "wait."

"Welcome home, John," Cortana said goodbye as she disappeared, John unable to chase her down as the gravity and the hard light walls left him to float out in the wreckage of the _Mantle's Approach_.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Sol System, Orbit of Earth…**

 **Location: Aboard the UNSC** _ **Infinity**_ **…**

 **Date: 25 July 2557…**

 **Time: 22:13 military standard time…**

Recovery teams had picked up John two hour ago and now he stood in one of the vacant halls onboard the UNSC _Infinity._ His tears had dried up a few minutes before he was picked up, the recovery team congratulating and thanking him for what he did, just like every other time that he'd been able to save those in similar circumstances. When he had exited the pelican John was greeted with a welcoming party of a half dozen Spartan IVs or as he thought more on it, his replacements and a platoon of Marines that had saluted him when he had revealed himself to them. John hadn't saluted them back as he stepped off the transport, just ignored them as he strolled past. He didn't feel like being around other people then and certainly not now as he spotted a yellow blip start moving toward him from his back.

"Mind if I join you?" the distinct voice of Lasky asked causing John to face the commander of the ship and stand at attention.

"Of course not, sir," John said his voice not completely recovered after he'd lost control of his emotions at the loss of his last friend that had any inclination of who he was, he just hoped it didn't show.

"At ease, Chief," Lasky gave his best friendly smile, as he moved to stand next to the armored legend, "it feels kind of odd for you to call me 'sir'."

After a few seconds of tense silence, as John and Lasky stood watching the Earth, Lasky attempted to break the silence, "Beautiful isn't she? I don't get to see her often enough." When it was clear that John wasn't going to speak Lasky continued, "I grew up on New Harmony, attended Corbulo Military Academy," John remembered that day, the first time he'd have to deal with a hunter up close on his own and saw the bravery of a young man who risked his life so he could get at a hunter's back, "never saw Earth in person until I was an adult but… I still think of her as home."

"You don't talk much do you?" Lasky asked, his tone becoming more somber, making it clear that Chief's emotional state was not held back by his walls as well as he hoped, "Chief… I won't pretend to know how you feel. I've lost people I care about but… never like you're going through."

"Our duty as soldiers is to protect humanity," John quoted, remembering the words that Chief Mendez had told him after a half-successful escape attempt when he'd first showed up on Reach, the only words keeping him alive still, "whatever the cost."

"You say that like soldiers and humanity are two different things," Lasky argued turning to face the Master Chief, "soldiers aren't machines, we're just people," these words actually making John break his gaze from the window to look at Lasky for a split second, "I'll let you have the deck to yourself."

As Lasky started to walk away John spoke one more time, "she said to me once, about being a machine," Lasky stopped for a second to look at his broken hero before continuing down the hall.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Star Chart: Sol System, Earth…**

 **Location: HIGHCOM Facility Bravo 6, Sydney, Australia…**

 **Date: 26 July 2557…**

 **Time: 06:00 military standard time…**

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 stepped off the pelican dropship that had taken him from the _Infinity_ in high orbit down to ONI's headquarters, setting a standard UNSC patrol cap on his head as he did so. John had taken a spare set of naval grey fatigues that were aboard the starship, the articles of clothing not quite fitting his over augmented frame but they'd have to do for now. The Mjolnir armor that he was in previously needed desperate repair work or even replacement after he'd returned to the _Infinity_ after destroying the Didact's ship. Taking in his surroundings John noticed a procession of 12 Marines approaching from the leftward entrance to the landing area, they weren't armed so John let his guard down just enough to not be seen as a threat.

"Master Chief, sir," a male ONI agent in the standard ONI black uniform said as he walked out of his line of soldiers. The man had a lieutenant's bars on his uniform. He was mocha-colored and his green eyes had the characteristic smugness of a desk jockey as one of Marines he'd fought alongside with on Installation 04 had once said about a rather stupid company commander who decided to stand right in the open and get shot instantly when he was tasked with getting to the Cartographer.

"Lieutenant," John saluted stiffly, his muscles not quite healed, "lead the way."

The man was not expecting the instant formality, most likely being on the bottom of the food chain for an ONI agent at this facility. Although John was impressed with the lieutenant's recovery time as he almost instantly turned on his heel and walked back the way he came. His soldiers taking a little longer to turn and follow, soon followed by the Master Chief.

"Hey, Vaz, you think that's the right depiction that Naomi gave?" a Marine to his left whispered to one of his fellow soldiers or now that John got a better look at the uniforms, ODSTs. Of course, why would they have been Marines, an ONI facility like this would have the best troops they could get their hands on.

"Shut it, Mal," the other one most likely this Vaz character growled back in an accent John was unfamiliar with, "you know full well that he can hear us."

"I'm just curious, I mean he is literally a god among men if all those propaganda pieces have any sort of merit to them," Mal defended.

 _Naomi,_ that was a name that John hadn't heard in a very long time, "all the best lies have a spark of truth to them," John muttered to himself, not quite remembering who exactly had told him these lines, it wasn't Mendez, or Halsey, or any of his other training instructors. Who was it? The two soldiers looked toward him out of their peripheral vision when he had said these words not quite hearing all of them but hearing enough to react to it slightly.

The rest of the trip was wrapped in tense silence, all except for the ONI agent who was pointing things out like he was leading a tourist group through some impressive landmark. Looking at it more closely everyone seemed to be tuning out his insistent jabbering. The ODSTs were either unable to speak from the awe that the Master Chief invoked from his very presence or from biting their tongues to stop themselves from telling the ONI agent to shut up.

"...Here we are," the ONI lieutenant said as he came to a stop outside a fallout bunker-like building, "continue inside and you will be escorted to debriefing."

"Sir," John saluted as his precession of ODSTs continued down the path. As the soldiers got to 100 yards away a platoon-sized element of soldiers jogged in the opposite direction that his welcoming party was traveling out to.

Before John could move to the building he'd been told to enter, he heard a familiar voice sounding off the cadence that the platoon moved to. Scanning the soldiers for the person calling cadence John immediately spotted Parisa leading the precession of soldiers. Parisa hadn't changed much if at all since the last time he'd seen her during the war. Her dark brown hair was still short and tied back in a bun on the back of her head, and the rest of her features were set in a determined scowl as she forced her much smaller frame to stay in the lead of her soldiers.

As John watched Parisa and her soldiers go past barely giving him a second glance, the Spartan forced down an urge to follow after them and entered the building. The room John entered into was spartan with minimal furnishings, no windows, and stark white light. On the opposite side of the room, a man sat at the only desk in the area and seemed to be in the middle of paperwork.

"Take the last door on the far left of the hall," the man said after a full minute of waiting and pressed a button on his console to open a wall and expose a kilometer long hallway lined with doors every 20 feet across both sides of the hall.

"Sir," John saluted and entered the hall, the wall that had opened for him to enter, closing behind him as he stepped through.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **I hoped you all liked the intro to the next phase of the story and I know this was short but I didn't know how to continue into the briefing. To those of you who don't know who Parisa is in the Halo universe, she is one of the Master Chief's childhood friends (potential childhood crush from known adulthood interactions and the simple fact that finding out who she was made him actually pause for a second) that made an appearance in the Halo: Evolutions short story "Palace Hotel" and since she's not confirmed alive or dead in any Halo canon material I decided to throw her in.**

 **Yes, this will be a Master Chief x Parisa fanfiction because I like the paring and I think she is one of if not the best choice to bring out John's human side.**


	24. Chapter 24: Update

**Hey guys and gals, I'm so sorry for the overly long wait time for the next update, and thank you for your patience with my inconsistent and damn near nonexistent update schedule. This is just a simple post to let you all know that I'm still alive and that I haven't kicked the bucket just yet.**

 **The reason I've been gone so long has been because I've been in the middle of getting stable employment and do all the adult things I'm now legally supposed to be doing like paying taxes and all that super fun stuff *he says sarcastically*. I haven't been completely inactive with this story though over the past few months. I've been writing whenever I can, between weekends that I have off from my tiring work schedule, being a Dungeon Master for a few of my local friends & family and late at night staying up until 12:00-1:00 a.m. when work doesn't drain all my energy. I should have the next chapter out soon if I'm lucky but I give no promises.**

 **While I work tirelessly on the next chapter, I would like to get a review/PM from everyone about why they follow this story. I'm genuinely curious about what got you hooked on this in the first place, that goes double for those that have actually read the first iteration/dumpster fire attempt of my first draft. Who knows, it might get the fire lit under me to actually complete the next chapter in a timely fashion.**


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